


The Vows We Swore to Uphold

by theoddkid



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I made my own universe in which this takes place, M/M, Mystery, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2019-10-02 04:09:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 56
Words: 144,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17257313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoddkid/pseuds/theoddkid
Summary: Once upon a time, this world was divided in two. From the two an unexpected, and rather unwanted union was made. This is the story of promises and duty, of love and deceit, of light and dark, of life and death. This is the story of two boys from two different worlds.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New year, new fanfic, isn't that how the saying goes? ;) Anyway, I am back with a new multi-chapter ioriku fanfiction, and I am really excited to post this! I've had this idea since the beginning of November but I haven't really had the time to write it until now. And now I finally get to share it with you! I hope you guys are as excited for this as I am. Also, I'm sorry if there are any mistakes, maybe with the spelling or the grammar, english isn't my native language so I'm not entirely sure if everything is correct, please bear with me as my stories are also not betaed (is that how you spell it? I have no idea...) If you have any questions or just want to talk to me you can reach me over on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on my Twitter: @EFagerhag.  
> Now, enjoy!

Once upon a time the known world was divided into two kingdoms, Pandragora in the north and Myronia in the south. Divided by the Great Sea, they were, and the only way to travel between them were by boat. The kings of the two countries, while they did not necessarily like each other, still held a certain respect for the other and the kingdom that they had built. Thus, the two coexisted in peace.

Pandragora was ruled by the von North family and had been for many generations. It was home to an abundant wildlife and many great forests in the southernmost parts. Because of this, wood was one of the resources they relied the most heavily upon. Pandragora was also rich in minerals and a lot of mines exist in the many mountains spread throughout the kingdom. In the north there were glaciers, snow and ice, which also gave the kingdom some of its special resources, as well as a very unique culture that was the most noticeable in the capital city of Northmeir. 

Myronia on the other hand had been ruled by many different families throughout the centuries. The current royal family went by the name of Yaotome, the king had claimed the throne thirty years ago during a civil war that took place when he was still quite young. Despite the constantly changing regiment, Myronia was currently prospering. Along the northern shores they had a large number of small villages, all focusing on fishing and other marine activities. That and the agriculture were the most important sources of income throughout the kingdom. The Myronians are also well known for their impressive architectural skills and there are many temples, palaces, towers and churches spread throughout the entire kingdom. 

However, darker times are approaching. The actions of a single man will have dire consequences for both of the two countries. A seed of doubt has been planted in the minds of the people, the air grows heavier for each passing day, a war is brewing. 

However, not only bad things come out of dark times. There are two noble families, each looking for a way to secure a position in their respective kingdom should something happen to their own. Two young men from different countries, different backgrounds, different values are soon to be joined together in a way no one could have anticipated, just how no one could have expected just how important these two would come to be for the fate of the entire world. 

This is the story of promises and duty, of love and deceit, of light and dark, of life and death. This is the story of two boys, of their relationship and of their journey. This is the story of two worlds. And the name of this story is “The Vows We Swore to Uphold”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are links to a map that I drew to give you guys a better image of the world that this takes place in as I imagine it: https://efagerhag.tumblr.com/post/181611496913/here-are-drawings-i-made-of-the-maps-over  
> You can also find the images here: https://twitter.com/EFagerhag/status/1080095609082781696  
> I already have the first few chapters prewritten, so the first proper chapter will be uploaded tomorrow, and then I will try my best to upload twice a week. To be more specific, every Wednesday and Saturday. However, since I live in Sweden the time and day might be different depending on where in the world you live. ^^ I say 'try' because starting next week I go back to school and will most likely be very busy, as of right now, I have enough chapters prewritten to last me 3-4 weeks so until those are uploaded you can expect me to upload regularly, but after that I can't make any promises other than that I will try my best!  
> I really hope that you guys are excited for this and that you will like this new story of mine! Kudos and comments are appreciated and they really are what keeps me writing these stories, so thank you all very much! <3<3<3


	2. The Beginning (Riku's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku is very happy since his brother is finally returning home after having spent a long time away from home. However, Tenn carries worrying news that will end up changing Riku's entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the first proper chapter of this story, I hope you like it!  
> If you have any questions or want to talk to me you can do so on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on my Twitter: @EFagerhag

It was a day like any other. Actually, it was a slightly better day than normally for one Nanase Riku. You see, not only was it a beautiful day, the weather was good, the boy’s condition was not acting up for once, and to top it all off, today was the day his beloved brother returned from Talin, the capital of Myronia. Tenn, Riku’s older twin brother had been away on business in Talin for 8 weeks now and Riku was desperately missing his company. It got lonely in their family’s mansion without him, after all.

Nanase Riku was the youngest child of the prestigious Nanase family, a high standing noble family in the kingdom of Myronia. His parents had helped the current king claim the throne in the last civil war, after which they earned their positions. One might think that Riku’s life had been quite easy, being from a rich and respected family and all, but no. Ever since he was a child Riku had been very sick. He had trouble breathing at times and there was a lot of things he just wasn’t able to do, lest he wanted to collapse. Since his parents were busy with work and all of the employees were busy tending to the house, the only one who ever really had time for Riku was Tenn. And because of his condition, Riku had barely left his house. Ever. 

His condition had of course improved over the years, and it had come to the point where he could live an almost normal life, with only a few inconveniences. This fact seemed to have gone unnoticed by his parents, however, as they still would not let him leave home. While his brother was out and about, making a name for himself all over Myronia, Riku was stuck at home. In fact, the number of people that even knew of his existence were very few, as his mother and father had not wanted him to be exposed to the rest of the world. They said it was too dangerous, that he could grow more ill because of it. Riku had a feeling it was more about keeping up their appearance. After all, if the general public knew that the prestigious Nanase family had a son so weak, what would they think? 

Walking through the garden that accompanied the Nanase family’s mansion Riku soon heard the all too familiar sound of galloping. He quickly made his way over to the stables to greet whoever had just arrived. To his delight, it was Tenn. He must have hurried home, as he was not expected to be back until nightfall that evening. Riku eagerly walked over to his brother, happy to finally be reunited after such a long time. However, as he approached, he realized something wasn’t quite right. Tenn wasn’t being his usual self who did everything perfectly. Firstly, he almost tumbled off the back of his horse, secondly, he didn’t even bother to make sure everything was in place in the stable, and lastly, he completely ignored Riku on his way out, simply asking everyone to take him to his parents immediately. 

“Tenn-nii? What’s wrong?” Riku sped up, trying to match his brother’s fast pace, however, he still did not get a reply. Gulping down the anxiety that had settled itself in his throat and chest he kept following Tenn throughout the house, looking for their mother and father. A few minutes later they found them in one of the studies, discussing how to expand their current business. “Tenn? Riku? What is the meaning of this? We are busy, you’ll have to come back later.” Their father said and turned back to his work, only their mother took notice of the worried and confused looks that crossed her sons’ faces. She took hold of her husbands arm to redirect his attention to their children. 

After a few seconds, Tenn’s rapid breathing had calmed down, on the outside he once again looked as calm as he always did, but Riku knew better. In his brother’s eyes the younger boy could see a whirlwind of emotions ranging from fear, panic and worry. Tenn opened his mouth and what he said then shocked everyone in the room. “The queen is dead. She was assassinated two days ago in the capital, the king is preparing his army as we speak, ready to launch it as soon as he finds out who is responsible.” 

The room went silent, nobody knew how to react to what they had just learned. The air felt heavy and the longer the silence lasted, the worse it got. Then, it was abruptly broken by the father of the household. He pushed his chair back loudly, stood up and with heavy steps walked to the door, which he both closed and locked. He then went back to his desk, he didn’t need to say a single word, everyone knew what he meant anyway. And so, they all gathered around the desk and waited for him to start talking. “Does he have any leads yet?” He asked, the question clearly directed at the older of the twins. 

“Not at the moment, I’ve been keeping in touch with the prince and he will alert me if they receive any news about the issue. I told him our family would do our utmost to help.” Processing what his son just told him, the father sat in thought for a short while, then he let out a big sigh. “Just as we were about to expand our business, this could not have happened at a worse time.” He rubbed his temples in annoyance and then looked up at Tenn. “Keep up the contact with the prince, any news you receive will be passed on to me as well, make sure he knows that our family is loyal to them.” Tenn nodded at his father, who had already turned to his wife. “You, keep working on the plans for the expansion, we’ll have to shelf the plans for now, but as soon as this has been settled, I want us to focus solely on our own business.” The mother nodded her head and immediately started organizing the files that were strewn across the desk, making room for new piles to be added. 

Riku looked on nervously, the atmosphere had never been this tense around his family before. It made him a bit uncomfortable. “Dad? Is there anything I can do to help?” He asked timidly. Tenn had always been the one helping their parents out, while Riku had only focused on his health. Seeing as the situation had turned rather dire, he couldn’t help but want to do something. For once he didn’t want to just lock himself up in his room waiting for others to do things for him. Everyone in the room turned to look at him, Tenn looked worried while his mother seemed to be deep in thought, as if she really considered if there was anything her youngest son could do to help. Last was his father, he mostly looked tired, as if he didn’t want anything to do with him. This made Riku take a step back, he then looked at the floor, feeling ashamed. Of course his father didn’t want his help, what would he even be able to do? With his weak body and low knowledge of how the world works. 

A sigh could be heard, followed by the deep voice of Riku and Tenn’s father. “As of right now you should just stay out of it, but this is a big issue, if something comes up that you can help with, I’ll make sure to let you know.” Hearing this Riku immediately perked up, he smiled and nodded. His happiness was only momentary, though, as someone else spoke up about a rather serious matter. “Have you forgotten something? Our business relies heavily on the fact that we sell products made from the Vollart tree, a tree that, may I remind you, can only be found in the northernmost parts of Pandragora. If Myronia launches a war on that country, we will have no way of getting this tree anymore. If this happens, we can forget all about expanding, we would have to shut down business.” The person who said this was the twin’s mother. Once again, the room felt heavy with unsolved problems. 

After another few minutes of silence their father had enough. “Well, we’ll just have to find some sort of stable connection to Pandragora while still making sure we stay loyal to the royal family of Myronia. Honey, try our current contacts, we can’t risk our entire company failing due to a possible upcoming war.” With this said the family ended their current conversation, instead hearing about Tenn’s time in the capital. After this the twins left the study to go about their own business, and so the day that started better than most ended, but it was no longer such a good day. It was a day of anxiety and uncertainties. 

A week passed since Tenn returned home with the news about the queen’s assassination and nothing mayor has happened. People speculate, some minor evidence came forth, but ultimately, they still don’t know who was behind it. The situation was still uncertain, the king has his troops ready to march at a moments notice, however, not wanting to risk unnecessary conflict, he has yet to launch his army at anyone. Some believe that it was the work of some noble family wishing to claim the throne for themselves, something that has happened before in Myronia. Some believe it to be the result of a personal grudge against either the royal family or the queen herself. Then there are also those who believe that it was the work of Pandragora, that the long-lasting peace between the two countries has finally come to an end. 

In the Nanase mansion things have been relatively uneventful, letters and messengers has been sent and received, but they are still waiting before taking action. Despite trying to go about their everyday life, it has been difficult with the constant fear of a war breaking out. Riku has tried to do the best of the situation, talking to and spending time with his brother as much as possible while also checking in with his parents from time to time. Then one day, Riku and Tenn were asked to come to their father’s study, he had something to discuss with the entire family. 

“Riku, Tenn, sit down.” He said, and they were all gathered around a small table in the corner of the room. “What is it dad?” Riku asked curiously, he was quite excited since he was rarely allowed to join these meetings. “Well honey, we believe we’ve found a solution to some of our problems.” Their mother told Riku, at which both twins perked up. “Really? That’s amazing! What are we doing?” Tenn asked eagerly. Once again, it was their mother who answered while their father sat quietly, content in letting his wife explain the situation. 

“You will not need to do anything Tenn, just make sure to keep up contact with the royal family and keep us updated on their situation. This time around we need the help of your brother. Riku, it’s time for you to start helping the family out properly.” Hearing that he would finally be allowed to help out, Riku was ecstatic. He smiled and excitedly asked what they needed him to do. In the meantime, Tenn felt a sense of dread take over him, he feared what his parents were going to say next, he feared that what Riku would have to do would ultimately hurt him. 

“Riku, you’re getting married.” Hearing these words come out of his mother’s mouth, Riku froze. The room was silent, both twins were shocked by what their mother had said. In the end, Riku was the first one to snap out of his state and quickly started to ask questions. “What? Why am I getting married? To who? What’s going on?” Taking hold of her son’s hands, the twin’s mother tried her best to calm down her bewildered son. 

“Riku, calm down, please! Listen to what I have to say first, okay?” She told him. Still looking a bit confused and skeptical he took some deep breaths and nodded. “Our business relies heavily on the Vollart tree, the planks and crafts made from it are our most sold products because of how durable, yet easy to work with they are. The Vollart tree, as you know, only grow in the northern parts of Pandragora and if Myronia launches a war against that kingdom, we will as of right now not have any way of getting our hands on that tree. We can’t grow it ourselves, the environment down here is not appropriate, and our current distributor will cut us off, knowing how heavily we support the current Myronian government.” So far, everything that his mother had said made sense, and while Riku was able to sort of think of a reason as to why his parents wanted him to marry, he still didn’t like where this conversation was going. 

“However, if we had a stable connection to someone high-standing in Pandragora we would still be able to keep our business going. As it stands right now, there are no families in Pandragora looking for Myronian business partners, but if we married into one of Pandragora’s noble families we would have exactly the kind of connection to that kingdom that we want. Thus, we would be able to keep our own company going even if a war breaks out, we might even be able to start our expansions earlier than we had accounted for. This marriage is very advantageous to us, and if we want to secure our current position in society, we need you to go through with this.” 

Riku looked to the ground, he couldn’t say that he didn’t see where his parents were coming from, he understood their reasoning, why they wanted him to go through with it. But even so, he still didn’t like it. “Why does it have to be me? Tenn-nii is the older and more accomplished one! If you’d want anyone in this family to get married, shouldn’t it be him?” Riku said before he really had the time to think about what he said. Hearing this made Tenn mad. “What? Don’t pull me into this! I get that you don’t want to do it, but why did you need to bring that up?!” He said angrily, he wasn’t actually mad though. He actually kind of agreed with Riku’s argument, even though he didn’t want to get married, he did find it a bit weird that their parents had asked Riku to do this instead of him. 

“It’s not that I don’t get why I need to do something like this, because I really do understand how we would benefit from such a marriage, but I don’t want to marry someone I don’t love! I mean, I’ve never even met her!” Riku continued to argue, however, he was once again interrupted by his mother. “There is something more that needs to be explained. You see, even though this marriage seems like the ideal solution, we have a small problem. This problem is also a big reason why we want Riku to marry, and not Tenn.” This caught the boys’ attention and they both looked over at their mother. 

“Here’s the deal, because of both countries being on edge since the assassination of our queen there aren’t many families willing to agree to our terms. And the ones who have contacted us about this issue didn’t have a secure enough position in the Pandragoran society to be suitable partners. Thus, we thought that this, too, was a bust. However, yesterday we were contacted by a certain noble family, the Izumi family. They own the biggest chains of bakeries and restaurants throughout the entire kingdom of Pandragora, they even have a branch here in Myronia. They, just like us, are unsettled by the current situation as they rely heavily on the Myronian agriculture. They, too, wish to establish a partnership with Myronia, but since we are not in the same type of business, a marriage between our two families would be the best solution.” 

While Riku had never heard of the Izumi family, Tenn had. He didn’t know much about them but he had indeed seen one of their bakeries when he was visiting Talin and knew that they were a very wealthy family with good ties to the Myronian royal family. “However, them being our only option is the problem. You see, they, just like us, only have two sons. In other words, no family would be able to provide a bride.” Riku and Tenn looked at each other. Both were very confused by this revelation. How could there be a wedding between the Nanase family and the Izumi family if neither family would be able to provide a bride? “Riku, your father and I want you to be the bride. We want you to pretend to be a girl and get married to Izumi Iori, the youngest son of the Izumi family. We’ve already arranged everything; the date is set, and the location is being prepared as we speak. We leave for the city of Lawlee in Pandragora in approximately two weeks. The marriage takes place a couple of days later.” 

The room was silent, both Tenn and Riku were speechless. Their mother kept looking at them, eyes firm and cold. “What’s with that? What the hell makes you think that this is a good idea?!” Riku suddenly stood up and yelled at his mother. “Language!” Was her only response. “No, I’m not going to mind my language! This is a horrible idea, I didn’t want to get married like this in the first place, but this isn’t only stupid, it’s dangerous. What will I do when they inevitably find out that I’m a man? They will want me to give them children one day and what happens when they realize I can’t do that?! I’d be the one in the wrong, they’re not wrong for arranging a marriage with a fraud! They could kill me if they realize I’m deceiving them! Is that what you want?” He got no response, just the same icy look from his mother. “…I see how it is. You just want me gone. I’ve been nothing but trouble to you and now you’re getting rid of me! You don’t care if I get killed over there, you just care about money and keeping up appearances! Well, guess what, I won’t do it!” 

“RIKU!” All of a sudden, a pair of hands were slammed onto the table, Riku’s father stood up and sternly looked at his youngest son. “You were the one saying you wanted to help our family, and now we’re telling you that we need your help with this. I’m sorry, but there is nothing else for you to help with in this situation. With the way you are, you won’t be of any use for anything else. You WILL do this, and that is that!” Riku couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He knew that they favored Tenn since he was stronger, more charismatic and just overall the perfect son, however, he didn’t think his parents thought so little of him. 

“No… I’m not going to throw my life away by getting married to some snobby, rich young master from Pandragora just to make sure you will get a specific kind of tree! I’m not doi-” SMACK. Tenn stood up and watched, horrified, as his father raised his hand and brought it down as hard as he could, striking Riku’s left cheek. The younger boy stumbled to the ground, tears running down his cheeks and shock displayed on his face. Without saying anything else he stood up on shaking legs, pushed past Tenn and ran out of the room. He ran as far as his legs and lungs would allow and then collapsed on the ground. He lay in a random hallway, crying while fighting for breath and wishing he could just wake up from this horrible nightmare that his life had become.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I am so sorry Riku! I almost cried writing the last parts, I felt so horrible for making this baby cry. I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite the angst! ;) Next update will be on Saturday, so stay tuned! Kudos and comments are always appreciated! <3


	3. The Beginning (Iori's POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The news that the queen of Myronia has been assassinated finally reaches Pandragora. The Izumi family, who are very troubled by what has transpired finds a way to solve their problems. Iori's point of view of what happened in the last chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back with the next chapter as promised! Originally I was actually planning on having this and the last chapter be combined, but then the first chapter ended up being much longer than I had expected so I made it into two chapters! ^^ I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you have any questions or wanna reach me on my social media you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

As he exited the mansion, Izumi Iori was blinded by the rays of the sun hitting his face in an annoying way. He held a hand up to shield his vision from the assault of sunlight while he walked down the stairs and headed out to the big road up ahead. A carriage was stood by the side of the road and in front of that carriage Iori found who he had been looking for, his older brother. The back of his brother’s orange hair could be seen from far away and Iori sped up to check on the situation. “Nii-san? Is the delivery complete yet?” Iori asked.

Izumi Mitsuki, Iori’s older brother by four years, turned around and smiled a bittersweet smile. “Well, we’ve got as much as they can give us, but it’s been really tough for all the farmers to produce enough crops recently, this isn’t nearly as much as we need to keep our business going.” He said, after which he turned around and thanked whoever was in charge before helping with unloading the rest of the wheat flour from the carriage. 

Iori and Mitsuki were the two sons of the Izumi family, a prestigious family from the kingdom of Pandragora. For generations they had been building their culinary empire and they currently had hundreds of bakeries, restaurants and cafés throughout the country. They even had some branches in the neighbouring country, Myronia. Farming had always been a bit difficult in Pandragora, the majority of the kingdom was too cold for the crops to grow properly and they never got a very big harvest. There were some fields in the south, however, with every year that passed the temperature dropped and the soil became less and less fertile, thus the harvest also got worse with time. 

While the Izumi family made and sold all kinds of foods, drinks and sweets, they specialized in baking. They baked bread of the best quality and their cakes were to die for. Their skills in the culinary arts were renowned throughout the entire kingdom, so much so that they were often hired by the royal family whenever they needed food for celebrations and the like. However, because they specialized in baking, they relied heavily on the agriculture, so ever since that started failing all throughout Pandragora they’ve been at a loss. That was, until a few years ago when Iori, despite only being 11 years old at the time, came up with how they would be able to import crops from Myronia, a country that almost solely relied on their prospering agriculture. 

This had worked in their favour ever since, but it just so happens that for the past week, no deliveries had been made from Myronia, thus, they’ve only had access to the crops from Pandragoran farmers. In other words, they don’t have nearly enough products to make everything they need in order to keep their business going. 

To make everything worse, it’s not only the deliveries from Myronia that have stopped, there is currently no word to be heard from the other country. It’s like they’ve completely cut Pandragora off, and nobody knows why. Yesterday, there were scouting reports in the south saying how Myronia were readying their army and rumours were spreading about how Myronia were surely going to launch a war on Pandragora for no apparent reason. 

Iori didn’t want to believe in these rumours, if a war broke out, it would definitely mess with their business. However, he believed that his sources were reliable, so no matter how much he wanted to deny it, it was very likely that Myronia was in fact readying their army. 

“Iori, help me carry all this flour back to the other carriage, will you? We need to check it and then immediately send it out to our bakeries.” Mitsuki said, pulling Iori out of his own mind. Nodding, Iori picked up as much flour as he could carry and started walking back to the mansion. It took a while, but the two of them, with the help of a couple of servants, were able to finish it. But before they could do anything with it their mother came out from the house, looking bewildered. “Mitsuki, Iori, come inside, something has happened.” She said seriously. Sensing their mother’s distress, the two brothers obediently followed her inside the house and into one of the salons where their father was waiting along with a royal messenger. 

They all sat down, ready to listen to whatever the messenger had to say. They didn’t have to wait long as he started talking as soon as he had made sure that everyone had made themselves comfortable. “Earlier today, the royal family of Pandragora were alerted by the Myronian government about their current state of affairs.” So it really turned out to be about Myronia, Iori had kind of expected it and from the look of things, the news were probably not going to be very good. 

The messenger continued. “A few days ago, it seems that her highness, the queen of Myronia, was assassinated. Her death is still being investigated and they do not intend on letting whoever was behind her death go without being put in place. This is also the reason for the cut off communication and deliveries from the kingdom, as well as the reason for them having readied their army.” As he finished speaking the room grew silent. Nobody really knew how to process the information. It was true that they weren’t familiar with the queen of Myronia so there really was no need to be sad, but neither had she ever done anything bad, nor anything that had put Pandragora in a difficult situation. Could her death really be caused by someone from their country? 

This development, while not being all that serious for most of Pandragora’s inhabitants, sure made an impact on those who relied on Myronian goods. For example, the Izumi family. They needed to find a way to establish a new link to the other kingdom, and they needed to do it fast. If they didn’t, their entire business would suffer a great blow that would risk them losing everything their family had worked so hard to achieve for generations. 

Iori quickly made his way through the hallways of his house, he had been called by his parents who claimed they had managed to solve their current problem. Iori himself had yet to find a solution so if his mother and father already had one that would be a huge weight off his shoulders. The family was gathered around a table in one of the mansion’s lounges, seeing this Iori hastily joined them. “Ah, Iori, you’re here. Then let’s get this started.” Said Iori’s father. 

Iori’s mother then proceeded to pull out some papers, they seemed to be letters, and gave them to her husband. “We’ve been looking for someone willing to partner up with us, but we were sadly unable to find anyone in the right field. Because of this, we won’t be able to go through with a business partnership, which we had originally wanted. However, we’re in luck. There is another wealthy family who seems to be in the same position as us. The Nanase family, they distribute wood of different kinds throughout all of Myronia, and since that country is famous for its many architects, they make quite a fortune doing it. They also have a good relationship with the current royal family. But even so, they need wood from Pandragora, and because of the current situation, that is proving itself to be very difficult.” Iori’s father explained. 

Iori listened, he waited for his father to get to the point, because honestly, he wasn’t sure what this other family had to do with their dilemma. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one to think this. “Wait, wait. I’m not following. What do this family of wood-distributors have to do with us?” Mitsuki asked, he looked just as confused as Iori felt at the moment. This time, it was their mother who explained. “You see, we are both in the same position. We both need to find some sort of link to the other country as a way to keep our businesses going. We may not work in the same branch, but we can still understand what the other is going through. With our connections here in Pandragora, we would definitely be able to supply them with the wood that they need, while they have assured us that we will receive all the harvest we may need from the local farmers near them. It’s an equal exchange. However, as of right now, our families have nothing to do with one another, and because we’re in different lines of work, we won’t be able to form a professional partnership with them.” She said. 

This got Iori to react. “I get why a partnership with the Nanase family could be beneficial for us both, but how are we going to do it if we can’t form a professional partnership? Doesn’t the plan fall flat before it’s even been set in motion then?” Their parents were suggesting doing something that apparently wasn’t possible, what exactly was the meaning of this? They wouldn’t have just told them how this partnership would be ideal, but it’s sadly impossible, would they? Surely, they must have found a way to make it work despite the differences between the two businesses, or else they wouldn’t have brought the Nanase family up, right? Iori was so confused by all of this. 

Luckily, his confusion was short-lived, because his parents immediately started explaining once again, this time his father was the one to talk. “Well, you see Iori, that’s because we aren’t going to be forming a professional partnership with the Nanase family. Our partnership will be of a different kind.” Iori still didn’t understand what exactly his parents were saying. Before when they explained they had talked to both Iori and Mitsuki, but now it felt as if they were suddenly directing all their attention to their youngest son. 

“It is a partnership of love!” Exclaimed Iori’s mother. This statement did give Iori an inkling as to what his parents meant by all of this, however, he kept quiet and listened to the rest of what his parents had to say. “Iori, we have made an arrangement. The Nanase family will travel here by the end of next week and following this, you are to marry their youngest child, their daughter Riku.” With that, his mother had finished their explanation. 

The room was silent. Iori was extremely shocked. Sure, he had kind of expected something like this when his parents’ explanation started reaching the end, but that didn’t make the news any easier to process. He would admit that if this marriage worked out, it would indeed help their business, but still, and arranged marriage? He wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about all of this. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who felt conflicted. “What the hell? You can’t be serious! Iori is getting married? In two weeks? He doesn’t even know this lady!” Mitsuki, clearly upset on Iori’s behalf, screamed out. 

Their mother looked down but said nothing, their father sighed and put his hands on Mitsuki’s shoulders, trying to calm him down. “I know this isn’t the kind of development that either of you wished for, but we could lose everything we have if we don’t go through with this. It’s for all of our best.” He said. This, however, didn’t calm Mitsuki down in the slightest. “But you can’t just decide others’ lives for them! It’s not fair! And what about this girl? Did she agree to this as well? They don’t know each other, yet you’re forcing them to spend the rest of their lives together! It's sick!” Now it was their mother’s turn to try and calm her son down, but no matter what she and her husband did or said, it was futile. 

Iori had yet to say or do anything about this situation, but he knew that if his brother didn’t calm down soon, it would not end well. Thus, he abruptly stood up and said. “Nii-san! Please calm down!” All eyes turned to Iori and he kept talking. “I’ll do it. You’re right, if I marry this Nanase Riku we could save our business, it might be our only option right now. I’ll follow it through, if that is what you ask of me.” With that said, his parents let out a sigh of relief and smiled at their son, the father in appreciation while the mother was giving him a more apologetic smile. “I can’t believe either of you.” Mitsuki said and quickly left the room, and his family, behind. 

“Nii-san!” Iori yelled and then left his parents alone in order to follow Mitsuki. “Nii-san, wait!” After a few minutes of walking Mitsuki just stopped, he turned to Iori, his face showing nothing but disbelief. “How are you okay with this?” He asked. Suddenly, Iori could feel all his emotions welling up inside. He hung his head low and said; “Who said I was okay with it? I said I would do it, but not that I liked it…” 

Mitsuki hadn’t seen his brother cry for years, and yet, here he was, shoulders shaking and head buried in his hands as he slowly collapsed onto the floor and cried. “I don’t want to do it…” He said. Mitsuki bent down and hugged his brother tightly. The two were slowly rocking back and forth as Mitsuki did everything he could to try and comfort his crying little brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I am so sorry for making the boys suffer! I feel like I might say this a lot throughout the first couple of chapters, oops... Also, I decided to keep Riku's name "Riku" despite him pretending to be a girl (at least for now ;) ), I don't know how feminine it is, but it just felt less confusing to do it this way. ^^ Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this update and the next chapter will be uploaded on Wednesday! Your kudos and comments mean the world to me so thank you so much for leaving those! <3


	4. The Journey's Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the days pass by, the Nanase family's departure draws closer. And soon, the big day will arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise update! I know I said in my last update that I would post the next chapter on Wednesday, but a few hours ago I realized that it's ioriku day today!!! And so, I wanted to do something for it, but I don't have that much time so I decided that I would update this, since I have some of the first chapters pre-written! ^^ I will still update on Wednesday, so you won't have to wait until Saturday, and the following weeks I'll most likely only update wednesday and Saturday. Today is just a special occasion ;) So without further ado, please enjoy this chapter!  
> If you have any questions or wanna talk to me here is my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com and my Twitter: @EFagerhag

It had been one week since Riku was told he was to marry Izumi Iori and he was no less upset or reluctant to do it than he had been before. He and the rest of his family would leave their home in four days in order to travel across the ocean to Pandragora, where the wedding would be held. Once they were married, Riku was to live with Iori in his home in Lawlee, and so, with every passing day, Riku felt worse and worse about his situation. He wished he could stop time, or maybe run away, never to return. But he had nowhere to go, neither did he have any contacts. Since his health had always been bad, he had never once been further away from home than the center of Laball, the city outside of which the Nanase family’s mansion was located.

Riku had spent the last week locked inside his room, not because his parents wanted to make sure that he didn’t run away, but because he didn’t want to see or interact with anyone right now. His mother and father hadn’t even bothered to make sure he didn’t try to escape, they didn’t even believe he was capable of something like that. And while Riku hated to admit it, he really felt like he wouldn’t be able to escape, no matter how hard he tried. 

Tenn had tried to talk to him on multiple occasions, to make him feel better, he had even offered to help him run away. Riku was extremely tempted to accept his help, but he couldn’t afford to destroy his brother’s life as well. He already felt like he had burdened Tenn too much throughout the years, and if Tenn helped Riku run away, their parents were sure to disown them both. So Riku had stayed in his room, only ever opening it to get the tray of food that someone, probably Tenn or one of the kinder servants, had left there for him. 

Riku was sat in his bed, reading his sixth book since he had locked himself in his room, wanting the story to just help him escape this horrible reality for a few minutes. Then he heard a knock on the door, for the third time today. He assumed it was either Tenn wanting to check up on him or one of the servants wanting to make sure he was still alive in there. However, when he heard someone unlocking the door he tensed. There were only two keys to his bedroom, one belonged to Riku himself, and that key was inside of his bedside drawer, the other belonged to the head butler, who in turn was only ever allowed to lend the key to the members of the Nanase family. There were thus four options for who was entering Riku’s bedroom, the head butler himself, his brother, father or mother, and Riku really only wanted to see one of them. 

The door opened and Riku let out a sigh of relief as he saw the face of his twin brother enter the room. Tenn made sure he relocked the door once he had entered, making sure no one else paid them a visit. He then made his way over to the bed and Riku. “Riku…” He said as he sat down and faced his brother. Riku, however, kept reading his book, or at least kept pretending to read, ignoring his brother’s presence. Tenn sighed and grabbed the book Riku was holding, closing it and placing it beside him on the bed. 

“Hey! I was reading that!” Riku exclaimed, trying to take the book back. He was met with a stern look on Tenn’s face which made Riku immediately give up on trying to ignore his brother. Tenn spoke. “You can’t keep doing this to yourself.” He said while eyeing his younger twin in a concerned manner. “Can’t keep doing what? Locking myself in my room, reading books to escape the nightmare that my life has become? Wallowing in self-pity? Praying to god that a comet will fall from the sky, crushing the Izumi family’s home, thus making it so that I can’t get married to their son?” He said, his voice coming out a bit hoarse from all the crying and panting he had been doing the last few days, trying his best not to get attacks all the time. 

“You need to get out of here, it’s suffocating you! We leave in four days, is there nothing else you want to do here before you leave? Or are you actually going to spend all your time reading?” Tenn asked. “I like reading, so what’s the problem? It’s not like I can go outside and experience the adventure of my life before I get married and have to live like a prisoner until the day that I die!” Riku exclaimed, clearly still hurt by everything that was happening. 

“Maybe it won’t be so bad?” Tenn said, however, Riku immediately turned to face him, looking angrier than he ever had before. “Not so bad, huh? I’m getting married to someone I don’t know, in a kingdom I’ve never been to, all for the sake of mom and dad’s business having a greater chance at success. To top it all off, I have to be lying about literally everything, and if they find out, who knows what will happen to me?! I could get put in prison! I could get killed! And you want me to think it’s not so bad?! You have no right to say that! You're not the one who is getting their entire life ruined before it even started!” Riku yelled out. 

“Shut up!” Tenn screamed, Riku was shocked, it was rare for Tenn to show so much raw emotion openly, yet right now his voice dripped with sadness and desperation while his expression showed pure pain. “Do you really think this is something I like? Something I support? Riku, I love you and I would do anything if it meant you could be happy, and believe me, I’ve tried. But there is nothing I can do about this. I’m so sorry.” Tenn started crying, seeing this, Riku, too, broke out in tears. The two brothers hugged each other as tightly as they could, wishing that they could stay like that, stay together forever. However, in just a few days they would be forcefully torn apart. The marriage was in a week and while Riku would stay in Pandragora, Tenn had to return to Myronia with their parents a couple of days after the ceremony. They may never see each other again after that. 

By the time they had both calmed down, it was already dark out. Riku decided to let Tenn stay the night and they both fell asleep, holding onto each other as if their life depended on it. It made things easier, at least for a while. And for the remaining days they would spend together in Myronia, they never once left the other’s side, savoring every moment. 

For every passing day, Iori slowly came to terms with his situation, he didn’t like it at all though. If anything, he himself felt more nervous and more reluctant the closer he got to the date. However, no matter how much he disliked it, no matter how much he wanted to run away from the entire situation, he knew that he had to do it. He reminded himself that he did this for the sake of his family, for the sake of the people he really, truly loved. That thought made it a little more bearable. He also understood why it needed to happen, why both his family and the Nanase family would be in a better position after the marriage. 

Besides, arranged marriages weren’t all that rare, while it happened less and less for every passing year, he still heard about at least three or four ones taking place in Pandragora every year. In fact, even the current King and Queen’s marriage was arranged. Although in their case, it was all arranged when they were still children, so at least they had a proper chance to get to know each other before the big day. 

Mitsuki had also started to come to terms with Iori getting married on the behalf of their parents. He, of course, was still against it, but he didn’t start fights about it with their parents anymore. Although he did still make it awfully clear that he did not support their decision. Iori was thankful for what his brother did, even though it wouldn’t change anything. It was nice to know that he wasn’t the only one being against the arranged marriage, and it also spared him the trouble of voicing his own complaints. 

Another thing that had changed in the last few days was his way of thinking about his fiancée, it still felt exceptionally weird to think that he actually had a fiancée though. At first, he was filled with feelings of dread whenever he thought about it, he was scared and felt as if he was about to lose everything. But as the days passed, he started feeling more curious than anything else. What was she like? What did she look like? What did she like to do? Would he be able to please her? To take care of her? Would she ever come to love him, and would he ever be able to love her? What even was her opinion on this whole arranged marriage? Maybe she was accepting of it, maybe she even wanted it. Or maybe she was totally against it, just like he was. 

Thinking about her was both a bit exciting and scary, but mostly scary. He had no idea what she was like, and a part of him really didn’t want to know. However, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued. Iori had never been in love before, he had never even liked anyone romantically. He had absolutely no idea what kind of people he liked, and yet he was going to get married in only one week. 

“Iori!” He heard Mitsuki’s voice coming from the mansion, he turned around and saw his brother wave for him to come over. He most likely needed help with something. So Iori pulled himself out of his thoughts, swallowed the lump that felt like it was stuck in his throat and ran over to check what it was that needed doing. 

The day had come. The Nanase family had just finished loading all of their packing onto a carriage and was currently boarding said carriage. It was a sixteen-hour trip to Port Nezok, the city with the biggest harbor in all of Myronia, where they would get on a boat sailing towards Port Danix. It would take approximately ten to eleven hours to cross the ocean and get to Pandragora. It was very early in the morning and tonight, when they arrived in Port Nezok, they would spend the night there before leaving the kingdom. The following day they were to continue their journey and get on the boat to Pandragora, where they would be greeted by some of the servants of the Izumi family. They would then spend another night in Port Danix before finally finishing their journey the next day by traveling from the port to the city of Lawlee. 

Riku was breathing too heavily to be healthy and Tenn had somehow managed to convinced their parents that the two of them could get an entire carriage all to themselves because of this. As they left Riku took one look back at his home, the home he had barely left ever since he was born, the home he might never get to return to. Just as Tenn pulled him into a hug the tears once again ran down his cheeks. He had tried telling himself that he wouldn’t cry over this anymore, and yet, here he was, crying like there was no tomorrow. The fact that he didn’t have a single attack throughout the entire ride to Port Nezok was near miraculous. 

They arrived at ten o’clock that evening and they would have to wait until seven the next morning in order to board the boat that would be leaving the docks. In the meantime, the family decided to eat dinner at one of the fancier restaurants before going to the inn to spend the night. The inn, too, was one of the fancier in Port Nezok. 

The next morning, which had come too soon according to Riku, the time to board the ship had arrived. As the ship left, Riku was standing by the railing while looking back at Myronia. Ever since he was little, he had always dreamt of exploring the world, of seeing everything there was to see, of learning everything there was to learn about it. And yet now, he was barely able to appreciate its beauty. 

“Riku, come down here!” He heard his mother call for him and reluctantly tore his eyes away from the kingdom that grew smaller and smaller by the second. He went down under deck and joined his parents and a couple of others as it was officially time for his first transformation of many to come. After all, when they reached Port Danix they would be met with people of the Izumi household, and they could not learn that he wasn’t a woman. His parents had, earlier that week, forced him out of his room in order to learn everything he needed to know in order to be able to keep up the act. They taught him how to dress himself, how to apply make-up, how to put on and take off his wig properly, how to act, how to use his voice, what posture he should have, how he should mind his manners. In other words, it was a lot to learn in just a couple of days, luckily for him, Riku was a fast learner, it was one of the things he had always been quite good at. 

With the wig in place, make-up applied, outfit in order and having gone through all his lessons once again, his official transformation was complete. He felt weird, not very comfortable, his entire body felt heavy with the extra weight that came from everything he had to wear to look like a proper girl. However, it could be worse he supposed. Somehow, he felt more comfortable wearing too much than too little, he felt as if all the different layers would help cover up his secret. 

He walked back onto the deck only to realize that it had gotten quite dark, you could still see the sun, however the sunset was approaching quickly. He walked over to Tenn, hoping they might be able to talk unbothered for a while before they arrived. “Hey.” He said as he approached. Tenn turned around and as soon as he saw Riku his eyes were blown wide and his mouth hung agape. “Wow, I’m really sorry but you look a lot better dressed like that than I could have ever expected, it kind of suits you.” He said, even though Riku had tried some on before, Tenn had never been present so this was his first time seeing Riku like this. 

Riku sighed and forced a smile onto his face. “Thanks, I suppose, I guess it’s good that you think I look good. Do you really think they won’t realize anything?” Riku asked worriedly. “I wouldn’t have realized if I didn’t already know you. You’ll be fine.” At least Tenn hoped he would be fine. “You know, if anything goes wrong over there, don’t hesitate to send me a message. I’ll come to your rescue as soon as I can.” He said in a joking manner. 

Riku laughed, probably the first genuine laugh in a long time. “Thanks, but I doubt I’d have time to send you a message if something did go wrong. I appreciate the thought though.” He said, a bittersweet tone in his voice. Tenn hated seeing Riku like this so he simply pulled him closer, one arm around his shoulders, their sides touching. They stayed like this for the rest of the trip, Tenn whispering reassuring words in Riku’s ears and Riku trying his best to keep his composure. 

It wasn’t all that long before they were able to see land, if he had come here under different circumstances, Riku definitely would have been very excited to see the shores of Pandragora. They were, with the lack for a better word, beautiful. Everyone left the ship and walked onto the docks, it only took a couple of seconds before someone came up to them. “Miss Nanase Riku? I am a servant working for the Izumi family. It is an absolute pleasure to finally meet you Milady, we look forward to serving you as a member of the family in the future.” The young girl that stood in front of him spoke politely. He smiled and thanked her. After having finished all of their introductions they left to find a proper inn, or a hotel where they could sleep for the night. And tomorrow, they would finish their journey and arrive at the Izumi family’s mansion, where the bride-to-be and the groom-to-be would finally meet for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked this surprise update that sort of was a surprise even for me, as I realized I wanted to do this just about an hour before I uploaded it! ^^ Anyway, I'll post the next chapter on Wednesday. I really appreciate all your kudos and comments, thank you so much! <3


	5. First Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The long journey from Laball to Lawlee has finally come to an end, and it is time for Riku and Iori to meet for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new chapter! Also, just a heads up, I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted to do this, but in the end I settled for this, starting this chapter, since there will be interactions between Riku and people (the Izumi family) who believe that he is a she there will also be times in this story that Riku is referred to as she/her while other times he will be referred to as he/him. This may become a bit confusing, but just bear in mind that if Riku is referred to as she/her it is because the current part is told from the perspective of someone who does not know the truth. I hope it won't be confusing to you guys, it's very easy to become blind to your own mistakes, so just because it feels right to have it this way to me it might be a bit weird for others. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I might refer to Riku in different ways depending on from who's perspective it is. Also, I was too lazy to come up with names for Iori and Riku's parents, so for now they'll just be Mister/Madame Izumi/Nanase, I might change this in the future, and if you have any name suggestions you can send them to me! If I do end up calling them by a name suggested by someone I'll be sure to credit you, unless you don't want me to! ^^  
> With that said, I hope you enjoy this update, and if you have any questions or something else you can reach me on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on my Twitter: @EFagerhag

Riku had wished he could have woken up to the sound of people moving about in the streets, or maybe to the rays of the sun hitting his face, but sadly, he had to get up so early that both of these options were impossible. He had to wake up early in order to have enough time to get ready before they left. He had been glad when his parents had allowed him to take the disguise off when he went to bed, but once he woke up, he regretted taking off certain parts of it, as he now had to redo it all. It must have taken him almost two hours to make sure that everything was perfect, he would really have to work on it, lest he wanted to alert his soon to be new family when he was taking too long getting ready in the mornings.

Once he had finished, he walked downstairs only to be greeted by his mother and two of their servants. His mother smiled at him, approving how he looked, then she turned around in order to finish talking to the others. Once she finished, she walked over to her son and took ahold of his arm. “The others are waiting in the restaurant, we’ll be eating breakfast here before our departure.” Riku nodded in acknowledgement as they kept walking through the hallways of the hotel they had stayed the night at. They soon reached the restaurant, however, before they could enter his mother stopped them in their tracks. 

“You took quite long to get ready this morning, you’re going to have to be faster when getting ready in the future.” She said to Riku, who looked down onto the floor in order to hide the hurt on his face. “…Yes, mother.” He said quietly. “But I do have to say that you look stunning. Even though you were slow, you really put everything on perfectly. It’s better to be thorough and slow than sloppy and fast.” Riku had not expected the praise, he looked up at his mother in shock only to be met by a gentle smile, it almost seemed genuine. “Now, just remember to smile and be polite. They may just be servants, but they are still a part of the Izumi household, we can’t have you mess up in front of them.” And with those words Riku’s heart sank again. 

“Yes, of course.” He answered before straightening his back and trying his best to look pleased. He just hoped they wouldn’t be able to see the storm brewing in his heart. Once his mother was content with how he looked she opened the door and they both walked inside the restaurant, greeting the others while also apologizing for being so late. 

Iori was freaking out. Or at least he was freaking out internally, no one else seemed to notice his inner turmoil. He was sat around the table with the rest of his family while having breakfast. The others were making small talk, but he wasn’t really paying attention. In just a couple of hours the Nanase family would arrive, in a few hours the person whom he was about to get married to would arrive. He tried to swallow around the lump in his throat, but no matter what he did he wasn’t able to get rid of it. He was worried, nervous and still didn’t want to do it, but of course he wouldn’t let this show on the outside. 

Over the past week he had barely had time to breath. Preparations were being made and they were in fact almost finished, however, every other hour or so his mother had a nervous breakdown, thinking that something that should be done wasn’t finished or that something had been made the wrong way. Everyone had agreed that the sooner the marriage took place, the better it was for everyone. However, no one had accounted for the stress that would come with all of the preparations that needed to be made. 

Suddenly, a hand appeared in front of Iori’s face, waving at him. He realized he had been stuck in his own thoughts and looked up, only to be met with the worried looks of his family. “Iori, are you feeling all right?” His mother asked, sounding concerned. His face flushed as he realized he had been caught being so out of it. He tried his best to suppress the blush that was rapidly spreading across his face and gave his family the most natural-looking smile he could muster. “I’m fine, I was just thinking.” He said, however, when they didn’t look convinced, he added; “I guess I’m just a bit nervous, it’s just a couple of hours left until they arrive after all.” It seems his parents were both satisfied with his answer as they immediately started reassuring him that it would all be okay. His brother, however, didn’t wipe the worried look off his face just yet. 

Once they had finished and both his mother and father had disappeared somewhere in order to keep preparing for the big day tomorrow, Mitsuki walked up to Iori. For a while the two brothers just walked beside each other in silence, but then the older one spoke up. “Iori, how are you really feeling? And don’t you dare lie to me.” Iori looked at his brother, he sighed, knowing that he really wouldn’t be able to hide anything from him. 

“I don’t know, I just… I’m nervous? But not really in a good way.” He said. The two of them were now outside in their garden, watching as every single staff member fixed something. Mitsuki was quiet, wanting to give Iori a chance to tell him exactly how he felt. “I still don’t want to do it, but I mean there’s not really anything else I can do at this point. I promised mother and father that I’d do it, and I try to tell myself that it’s going to be okay, but it’s like I’m having trouble believing myself. What if she’s horrible? Or what if she’s really nice and I really do end up falling for her and then it turns out she completely hates my entire existence? What if I’m not good enough for her? I mean, I’ve never really been interested in anyone romantically before, then how am I supposed to know how to act when you’re married? My knowledge about romance is limited to the few romance novels I’ve read, and I can count them all on my fingers.” 

Listening to his brother’s rant, Mitsuki couldn’t help but feel a bit at ease, he had always admired his younger brother and even now, when he had been put in this difficult situation, he was still handling it better than he believed he was. Mitsuki stopped Iori before he could continue and started speaking himself. “You know, Iori, I think you’re going to do just fine. You’re worrying that you will be the one to mess everything up, you’re worried you won’t be good enough for this girl? Let me tell you, whoever this girl is, if she doesn’t appreciate you, then something is seriously wrong with her. I mean, maybe I’m biased, being your brother and all, but you are smart, you are talented, you are one of the kindest people I know, and above all, you always put others above yourself. You’ll make her happy, at least, I know you’ll be capable of making her happy.” Mitsuki said. 

Listening to the praise given to him from his brother did make him feel a bit at ease, but it was also extremely embarrassing to listen to. “Nii-san, that’s…” Iori said, but was unable to form a proper sentence in his current flustered state. Mitsuki just laughed at him, and then he opened his mouth so that he could start talking again, but before he managed to say anything the two brothers heard their father calling for them. It seemed like he needed help with something. And so, the two stood up and ran over to assist their father. 

Some time passed and before they knew it, they could hear horses neighing and the sound of carriages rolling in onto their lands. “Oh my, they are a bit early.” Iori’s mother exclaimed as she rushed over to the rest of her family to let them know. “You boys have to come to the front, they’re already here!” She told them. Hearing his mother’s words made Iori freeze, his legs wouldn’t move and panic set in. They were here. His soon-to-be wife was arriving to his home. He took some deep breaths and followed his parents to the front of the mansion, using every single bit of his energy in order to look like he wasn’t panicking on the inside. His back was straight and a polite smile adorned his lips. 

The carriage came to a stop and the door was opened. The first to come out must have been the father, a quite thin man, he wasn’t tall but not short either, he wore a dark brown suit and his red hair was mostly hidden under a black hat, his face was also adorned by a nicely trimmed mustache. After him came a woman, most likely the mother, she was helped out of the carriage by Iori’s father. Her hair was a light pink color and she wore it in a neat bun at the back of her head, her eyes were big and red, and she wore a beautiful yellow dress. Next up must have been their oldest son with the same hair color as his mother, he was dressed in fancy blue clothing. 

There was now only one more person who needed to exit the carriage. Figuring he should probably at least try to act like a gentleman, Iori stepped forward and held out his hand for the last member of the Nanase family to take. He felt someone grab it and out came a young woman with long, flowing red hair dressed in a gorgeous light pink dress, her eyes were the same as her mothers, big, red and with the longest eyelashes. Her gloved hand felt warm in his and for a moment Iori stood there frozen, he didn’t even realize at first when she let go of his hand and held the same position for a few seconds before realizing that he was making a fool of himself. 

“Thank you.” The girl said to him while smiling politely. Iori just nodded, at a loss for words. He was still against their marriage, but he had to admit that the girl that stood in front of him was undeniably very pretty, and also really, really cute. 

Riku looked out of the window, hoping the scenery would make him think of other things than what was to come. They had been traveling for a long time now and were sure to arrive any minute. Just as he thought this, his mother happily exclaimed that they had indeed arrived. “Oh look! I think we’re here now! It has got to be that mansion over there, right?” She said as she pointed out the window on her right. Sure enough, there was a big white mansion with a big yet homely garden in front. It was a beautiful house, but all Riku could think about was that this would most probably be his prison for the rest of his life. 

“Isn’t it beautiful? I’m sure you’ll like it here.” His mother told him. Normally he would agree without a second thought, he thought the house, despite being even bigger and fancier than his own, seemed like a very warm and cozy place to live. He simply forced a smile and nodded at his mother. 

The carriage came to a stop and Riku’s heart was beating hard in his chest, he was also trying his best not to start hyperventilating. Collapsing from an asthma attack would probably not give the Izumis a very good first impression. Tenn grabbed his hand and looked at him reassuringly, and at this moment, Riku couldn’t be more grateful for his brother. The door to the carriage was opened and one by one the other family members exited until he was the only one left inside. He took a few last deep breaths before standing up and going over to the exit. 

However, the hand that offered to help him get off was an unfamiliar one, it was not that of his father, nor that of his brother. Riku grabbed it nonetheless, feeling that it would be rude not to accept the help he was being given. It had a firm hold and he hated to admit that it made him feel kind of secure in this whole uncomfortable situation. Once he was out of the carriage, he decided to look at whoever it was that had offered to help him. 

What he was met with was very different from what he had expected. In front of him stood a young man, probably around his own age. He had black hair with bangs that slightly fell onto his face. His eyes were like a mixture of grey and blue, and they looked undeniably soft and kind, yet very calculating. He was pale, quite thin and just a little bit taller than Riku himself was. He wore a dark blue suit that really brought out the color of his eyes. Judging from the fact that there were only four people present whom he hadn’t met yet, this was most likely one of the family members of the Izumi family, and judging from his age, it must have been one of the sons. Realizing that people were starting to stare, Riku cleared his head, smiled at the boy and said; “Thank you.” 

Riku’s mother came up to him and put her arm around him, they were all gathered together and while the servants started carrying their luggage inside, the two families introduced themselves. “You must be Madame Nanase, it is a pleasure to finally meet you.” Said the unfamiliar woman, she then shook hands with Riku’s mother who proceeded by answering. “The pleasure is mine, Madame Izumi. I am so happy that it is finally time!” Was what Riku’s mother replied. The two women then let go of each other while smiling brightly. “This is my husband, Mister Nanase.” His mother said, gesturing to Riku’s father. “This is my son, and oldest child, Tenn. And over here,” She pushed Riku so that he would take a step forward. “is my daughter, as well as my youngest child. Riku, say hello.” 

Riku looked at his mother then turned his attention to the four people in front of him. There was a quite big man with thick, black hair and glasses, a petite woman, who he already knew was Madame Izumi, with orange hair, big eyes and a bright smile, beside her was a guy who looked a lot like his mother, orange hair and big eyes, he was also quite short. Lastly, there was the guy who had helped Riku off the carriage. 

Riku smiled and bowed to the people in front of him. “Good day, my name is Nanase Riku. It is such a pleasure to meet you all.” He said, forcefully making his voice sound a bit softer and lighter than it normally was. The woman reached out and grabbed his hands. “Oh, the pleasure is all ours. Just look at you, you are absolutely gorgeous, isn't she beautiful honey?” She said and turned to the big man on her right. 

“You are quite right darling.” He said to her, then he looked at Riku and held out a hand. Riku let go of the woman’s hands and quickly grabbed his instead, all the while still smiling. “It really is a pleasure to meet such a pretty lady, my son really is one lucky guy. I’m Mister Izumi, I’m looking forward to getting to know you better.” Mister Izumi said politely. “Oh no, I am the one who should feel honored.” Riku answered. After this was done, he turned to the remaining two people. 

“Izumi Mitsuki. Nice to meet you.” The orange haired boy, Mitsuki, said. Riku smiled, so this was the older brother. Once they had finished their introduction Riku turned to the last one. “Hello.” He said, sounding a bit awkward, although Riku wasn’t much better off himself, barely managing to get a word out. Looking closer, he really was rather handsome, if Riku had to marry a man, he supposed he was glad that he at the very least was a good-looking one. 

“Hi.” Riku said. “Uhm, I’m Izumi Iori. I am so happy to finally meet you, I hope all of this,” Iori turned around and gestured to his own house and garden, which was all richly decorated for the wedding. Thus, Riku assumed Iori was talking about the preparations for the wedding. “is to your liking.” Iori finished. Riku smiled at him. “It’s great.” He said, he really wasn’t sure what more to say or do at this point. Luckily for him, someone else did. 

“Well, I would love to give you two a chance to get to know each other better, but time is nigh and there is a lot to do. Tomorrow’s the big day and the first guests will start arriving tonight, while the majority of them will come tomorrow morning. Iori, help your father out in the back, will you?” Madame Izumi spoke up. Iori nodded, gave Riku one last smile before he followed his father around the corner, thus disappearing from sight. “And you,” She continued and turned to Riku. “you need to do a fitting, we need to make sure to find a dress that is to your liking, as well as in the right size. We have prepared a few so if you would just follow me I will help you out.” 

Riku panicked. If Madame Izumi was the one who would help him with the dress, he would surely be exposed. He could not risk being exposed before he had even gotten married. Luckily, his mother had planned for a situation like this. “Oh, that is so nice of you. However, I’m afraid Riku is really shy, we actually brought one of our maids from home, the one who usually helps Riku with her needs and if it is okay with you, we would like her to help Riku now as well. We don’t want the bride to be uncomfortable now, do we?” Said Riku’s mother. 

Madame Izumi looked a bit taken aback, but understanding nonetheless. “I see, of course we don’t want it to be unpleasant, however, I must ask that you show me the dresses once you are in them, would that be alright?” She asked. Riku smiled and nodded. “Of course, thank you so much.” He said. 

Just as he did, a young girl with blonde hair came up to them. “Ah, here she is!” Exclaimed Riku’s mother. “This is Takansashi Tsumugi, Riku’s maid.” The young girl smiled and bowed in greeting. “I’m Takansashi Tsumugi, it is a pleasure to meet you, Milady.” Madame Izumi looked at the girl approvingly and then introduced herself. 

Tsumugi was a young girl whose family had been working for the Nanases for many years. She had been tasked with looking after and helping Riku after the marriage and was thus to stay in Lawlee with him as a companion. Once they had finished, Tsumugi, Madame Izumi, Riku’s mother and Riku himself went inside the mansion and got to work, preparing for the big day tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand there we go! They met! Anyway, did you think the way I referred to Riku was confusing or not? I'd be glad if you let me know your thoughts, I hope that I can make this story interesting for you guys, and if I confuse people with the way I refer to Riku in this I might have to rethink some parts... Anyway, I sincerely hope you enjoyed this, and the next chapter will be uploaded on Saturday, so look forward to that! ^^ Your comments and kudos mean a lot and make me very happy, so thank you! <3


	6. The Night Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the night before the wedding and Riku is exhausted, and when he goes out into the garden for some fresh air he realizes he's not alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! ^^ I'm back with a new update! I hope you enjoy this new chapter and if you have any questions you can contact me via my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or my Twitter: @EFagerhag.

It had been a hectic day, not only had there been so much to do, but Riku also had to stay in-character the entire time. First, he had to try on and decide between at least a dozen dresses, which took way longer than he would have liked. Then, he had been shown around, having to give his opinion on all the preparations that had been made. Once that was done, the first few guests arrived, they were all related to the Izumi family and were honestly not as big in number as he had expected, but it was still a lot to process. The rest of the guests would arrive tomorrow. After that he had to go through everything that would happen the next day with his mother, what he needed to do before, how the ceremony would play out, what to do and how to act at the celebration, as well as what would happen after.

In other words, it had been a very tiring day and Riku was beyond exhausted. He still wasn’t used to his new getup or the way he was supposed to act either, which also drained a lot of his energy. He would have also liked to have gotten some more time to get accustomed to everything, he wanted to explore the Izumis’ mansion, to make himself at least vaguely familiar with its layout. He wanted to try and get to know the different family members and maybe even a few servants, but the only one he got to really spend time with was Madame Izumi, and she was so stressed out the entire time that he wasn’t able to tell what kind of person she truly was. 

Right now, Riku wanted nothing more than to collapse onto his bed and sleep for days. However, he feared he might pass out from exhaustion in the middle of the halls, so he decided to go outside and get some fresh air to wake himself up slightly, as his room was on the other side of the house. As he walked outside, he forgot where he was and how he was supposed to act and let out a big yawn. He then turned around, only to realize that he was now face to face with Izumi Iori, his future husband. ‘Oh shit’ he thought as he realized how rude that big yawn could have been had Iori taken it the wrong way. 

“Uh… Hi?” Riku said, not sure exactly what to do in this situation. “Hi.” Iori simply replied. The two of them just kind of stood there in awkward silence for a while, looking out over the garden. “Uhm, are you okay?” Riku suddenly heard. He turned around and looked at the source. Iori was observing him and it kind of unnerved Riku that he was looking so closely. “Yes, I’m fine. I hope I didn’t worry you.” Riku answered. 

Iori nodded and looked away. “You just seemed kind of tired, I’m sorry if my mother was too pushy today, she’s just really nervous about tomorrow. She’s had emotional breakdowns everyday since this whole thing was decided, convincing herself that something was definitely going to go wrong.” He explained. This time it was Riku’s turn to observe Iori as he talked. The moonlight made his hair and eyes stand out even more and they contrasted beautifully to the night sky. Wait, did Riku just think he looked beautiful? He shook his head and decided he needed to give him a reply. 

“It’s fine. I can understand why she would be nervous. It’s a big day tomorrow, after all…” He said. As he trailed off towards the end a lump made itself comfortable in his chest and he felt panic set in. He was getting married tomorrow. To the young man that stood beside him who he had barely talked to before. Taking a deep breath and trying to contain the tears and overwhelming emotions from spilling over he turned away to look another way, really, he just needed to look at something that wasn’t Iori right now. 

Not sensing the other’s distress, Iori kept the conversation going. “Right, the big day. It’s really come to that, haven’t it? Are you nervous?” He asked and turned to Riku, who was still looking away, not trusting his own face not to display his true feelings right now. “Of course I’m nervous, who wouldn’t be?” He said as he kept trying to calm down, to convince himself in his heart that everything would be okay. “Aren’t you?” He then asked in an attempt to get Iori to focus on something that wasn’t him. 

Iori was starting to get a bit concerned, he thought he heard a slight tremble in Riku’s voice and she wouldn’t look at him anymore. But when she asked if he wasn’t nervous, he almost forgot all about it. “Th-that’s not what I meant! I mean, I-I’m also nervous, obviously. Like you said, who wouldn’t be…” He answered, afraid she would think he was insensitive or making fun of her, which he really wasn’t trying to do. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Riku said, however, he really should head back now. He was really struggling not to break down right in front of Iori this very second. But no matter how much he wanted to get away, he couldn’t just leave. Not since the other person out there with him was Iori, it might be seen as rude, or as a sign of defiance. He just couldn’t risk it. But he really, really needed to get away from there. “I’m really sorry, but I need to go. Like you said, I’m really tired and while I would love to talk some more, I need to get to bed.” He said, hoping that Iori would just let him go without further questions. 

“Oh, well then, I’m sorry to have kept you. Good night.” Iori said. Riku turned around to leave but he was no longer able to contain his tears. They filled his eyes and made his vision blurry. Because of this, when he walked up the stairs to get back into the mansion, he accidentally got his foot caught on one of the steps and fell over. 

Iori had to admit that he felt a bit disappointed when he didn’t receive a reply. However, that disappointment was quickly replaced with concern. He could have sworn he saw Riku’s shoulders tremble and her breath get caught in her throat. He was just about to walk away, to walk through the garden to clear his head, when he heard something. He turned around and saw that Riku had collapsed onto the stairs. He rushed over and knelt down next to her. “Riku? What’s wrong? What happened?” He asked his fiancée. 

Riku’s breath was caught in his throat and he struggled to get enough air into his lungs, the tears were now streaming down his cheeks and he tried his best to make as little noise as possible. He heard Iori approaching and felt him by his side rather than seeing him. Iori had put his hand on Riku’s back, probably trying to comfort him, but to Riku, this small touch burned. It reminded him of what was to come, and it resulted in it having the complete opposite effect than what was intended. Riku tried to stand up, to shake the hand off of him and run away, but his legs wouldn’t obey him, they were shaking, and he was barely able to stand up. It was really only with the help of Iori that Riku managed to regain his balance. 

Riku still hadn’t given a reply to Iori’s question, but Iori could hear how Riku was struggling to breath and he felt her entire body tremble in his hold. Before he could do anything else, however, Riku turned to face him and what he saw then made Iori’s heart get unbelievably tight. Riku looked more hurt than anyone Iori had ever seen before. Her eyes were shiny and wet, the little make-up she wore was starting to get smeared out on her face. He was about to say something, anything to try and take away some of the pain, but she beat him to it. 

“Go away.” Was all she said. “Let go of me.” Iori was shocked. Maybe she had reacted similarly to him when finding out about their marriage. Maybe she didn’t want to go through with this. Maybe she already hated him. “I said get away from me!” She screamed out. For a second Iori was a bit caught off guard, he could have sworn her voice sounded different, but he quickly forgot about it. He let her go and took a step away, not really sure what else to do in that situation. Once he had done that Riku ran off, back into the mansion, and Iori lost sight of the girl that was just on the ground, crying her heart out. 

“…iku. Riku!” As he heard his name being called, Riku quickly sat up in his bed. In front of him was Tsumugi. “I’m sorry to have startled you, but you need to wake up now.” She said and gently pat his shoulders. Riku felt a bit disoriented, he wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. Just as he was about to ask, Tsumugi spoke up again. “I have brought you your breakfast, and don’t worry, I have already alerted the rest of your absence this morning. I told them you wanted some time alone to calm down. It is a very important day today, after all.” She told him while setting a tray with lots if delicious-looking food onto the bed. 

Hearing this, everything came back. Riku groaned and hid his face in his hands. “Shit, shit, shit. I fucked up, Tsumugi. I don’t know what to do.” The girl looked at him with concern. She sat down beside him on the bed and placed her arm around his shoulders. It had actually been Riku himself who had requested that Tsumugi would be the one to join him here with the Izumi family. She was the only servant who was the same age as Riku and the two had always been pretty close. Apart from his brother, Riku had always viewed Tsumugi as his best friend. 

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as it seems, why don’t you tell me about it?” She said while also rubbing comforting circles on his back. Riku sighed and looked at her. “I may have had a nervous breakdown in front of Iori last night. And I may have told him to get away from me…” He told her, not giving away too many details as he didn’t want to recall the memories of last night. 

“Well, I’m sure he was a bit taken aback, but if I’m being honest, I don’t think he’s very fond of the idea of this arranged marriage either. I think he understands why you’re doing this. I wouldn’t overthink it. Besides, maybe you can play it off as just being nervous?” Is what Tsumugi told him. Hearing it coming out of her mouth made Riku want to believe her words. It wasn’t like he had exposed his secret, so he should still technically be okay. He nodded and smiled at her. 

Tsumugi wasted no time in smiling back before she pushed the forgotten tray of food in front of him. “Now eat, there’s a long day ahead of you and still a lot that needs to be done. Once you’re finished you should wash up and then I’ll help you with the dress, wig and make-up. Even if you don’t want to do this, I’ll make you as beautiful as you can be.” She said with a bright smile. Riku didn’t say anything in return and just proceeded by eating his food, trying his best to mentally prepare himself for the day to come. 

Iori woke up with a pounding head, he had gotten way too little sleep that night. But who could blame him? He just couldn’t get what had happened last night out of his head. Seeing Riku cry like that had somehow made him feel awful, he had even debated going over to her room to check on her. However, remembering her reaction to him trying to simply help her up, combined with the fact that going to see his fiancée the night before their wedding would be extremely inappropriate, quickly made him change his mind. 

He got up and put on some casual clothes, then he headed outside for breakfast. Entering the dining room, he could spot his mother, father and brother, as well as Mister and Madame Nanase and their son, Tenn. But no matter how hard he looked he couldn’t find Riku. “Ah, Iori, you’re up! Come join us.” His father said. “I’m sorry, but Riku was feeling a bit nervous and asked to eat by herself. We hope you’re not offended because of this.” Madame Nanase said, to which his own mother immediately added. “Oh, of course not! It is totally understandable to be nervous, I remember my own wedding day, I could barely walk because my legs shook so much! Haha. And besides, isn’t it kind of traditional that the bride and groom don’t see each other until they’re at the altar?” 

The conversation kept going along these lines, but Iori wasn’t really paying attention to any of it. His thoughts were elsewhere. They were of flowing, red hair, big and beautiful eyes, as well as a shy smile, quickly replaced by a tear drenched face. And now he felt bad again. He could only hope it wasn’t as bad as it seemed, nevertheless, they still needed to go through with it, for both of their families’ sakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it! Gosh, I feel so bad for making my boys suffer so much... Well, I suppose not every chapter that will come in the future will be as angsty. Anyway, I hope you liked this and I will be back on Wednesday with the next chapter, so until then! ^^ Thank you for leaving kudos and comments, they really make my day! <3


	7. The Ceremony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has come. It's the day of the wedding between Iori and Riku. Nerves, threats, requests and god knows what else await them on this very special day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again, and the time has come for the big day! I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you want to reach me you can do so on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on my Twitter: @EFagerhag

Everything was chaos. Riku and Iori were locked away with their respective mothers and a servant or two, getting ready for what was to come. Their fathers and brothers were in charge of greeting and entertaining the guests who arrived until the time had come for the ceremony to begin. While this was all happening, the remaining servants from either family was busy running around putting up something that was forgotten, fixing something that broke or prepared food, sweets, drinks or other things that would be used or consumed later in the day.

In hindsight, they probably should have spared more than two weeks in order to plan and prepare the entire wedding, considering the scale they wanted it to be in. At least a month would have been necessary if they were to fix everything they wanted to have done for this special occasion. However, with the possibility of a war breaking out any second, they didn’t want to risk anything. 

The number of guests far exceeded the Nanase family’s expectations. From Myronia there were only the Nanases, their staff and about twenty other people, almost all of them blood relatives of the main Nanase family. The Izumis, however, had invited all family members, all friends and coworkers and even some of the other noble families out of courtesy, even though they didn’t all get along. 

When Riku had heard from his mother how big the number of guests were, he almost fainted. He had expected that the Izumis might have invited about as many people as they had, but his mother had promptly explained that they also would have invited a lot more people if Myronia wasn’t already close to starting a war. In fact, Riku’s mother seemed thrilled after seeing the guestlist. There were a lot of rich and influential people present and she couldn’t wait for the afterparty to start so that she would have a chance to get in their good books. 

Riku, on the other hand, couldn’t wait for this day to be over. He was already exhausted. He hadn’t slept very well, everyone around him was stressing out, he had been getting ready for over four hours now. And while a part of him wished he could stop time before the wedding, another part of him wished he could simply fast-forward through the day. But he knew that wasn’t possible, this day was probably going to be one of the longest in his life. In fact, it already felt like it. Getting dressed was one thing, but for the last three and a half hours his mother and Tsumugi had been arguing over what sort of hairstyle he should have, what his make-up would look like, what sort of accessories would go well with everything else, and so on. Riku could honestly care less, as long as no one would be able to realize that he was male, he didn’t mind if his accessories weren’t matching the rest of the outfit. 

Riku felt so relieved when his mother announced that he was finally finished, but even if there was technically nothing more to do for now, Riku’s mother insisted that they go over the ceremony and the afterparty once more. And so, Riku spent the last hour before his entire life changed listening to more of his mother’s lessons. 

At the same time as this was going on, Tenn had managed to escape the crowd outside, he wanted to see Riku before the ceremony started. However, before he went to see his brother, he had another thing to do. And so, Tenn headed over to the room he knew belonged to Izumi Iori. He knocked on the door and heard a faint voice from inside calling for him to come in. He opened the door and saw Iori standing alone in the middle of the room. “I thought you’d be surrounded by people making you look your best.” Tenn said with a scowl on his face. 

Iori looked a bit cautious as Tenn entered and closed the door behind him. He wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t very fond of the Nanases' son. “Mother wanted to get a chance to greet the guests before it all starts, and I was basically finished anyway, so I asked them to leave me alone for a bit.” He stated, not wanting to be rude by not answering, yet not wanting to give too much away. “What are you doing here anyway? Did you need something?” He then asked the unexpected intruder. 

Tenn walked over to Iori and gave him the coldest stare he could muster. “I’m just going to say this once. I don’t like this arrangement, to be honest, I’ve even tried to stop it, but clearly that isn’t going to work. I understand why it would be beneficial, but it’s not guaranteed that everything will fail if we don’t go through with this. Also, to be completely honest with you, Riku’s happiness is more important to me than anything else, she doesn’t want to marry you, so if you make this any more unpleasant for her than it has to be or hurt her in any way, know that I will personally make sure to end your life. Partnership be damned. Don’t you dare do anything bad to my sister.” 

Iori gulped, Tenn had always made him feel kind of on edge and now he knew why. Iori hadn’t planned on hurting Riku, but how much would he be able to do for her if she didn’t want to go through with this in the first place. Still, Iori felt like he needed to say something, if nothing else, his pride wouldn’t allow him to stay silent and cower before his soon-to-be brother-in-law. “Of course, I don’t intend to hurt her. I’m sorry things had to come to this, if there was something I could do I would have. But I promise you this, I will try my best to make her happy, I don’t know if I can do it, but I really do intend to try.” He said. 

Tenn wasn’t satisfied, but then again, he would probably never be satisfied. He would 'try'? Well, trying wasn't enough, not in Tenn's books at least. Although, he assumed there were probably a lot worse people out there that Riku could have been forced to marry, Izumi Iori really wasn’t the worst option. Feeling at least a little bit better about all of this than before, even if it was only very little, Tenn decided he was finished and left without saying anything else. After he had left, Iori was stood staring at the door, still not quite sure what had just happened. But he knew one thing for sure, he would need to be vary around Nanase Tenn in the future, unless he wanted an early death. 

Looking out the window, Riku could see how the guests were starting to take their designated seats, waiting for the ceremony that would soon commence. His mother and Tsumugi had left already, Tsumugi to help in the kitchen and his mother to finally go greet the guests that had arrived while she had been helping Riku. Right now, he was in a room with his father and brother, waiting for it all to start. 

“Are you okay? You’re not going to break down in front of everyone, are you?” Tenn asked him worriedly. Riku shook his head. “I’ll be fine. I might break down later, but I doubt anything will happen during the ceremony.” He answered, which honestly didn’t do anything to ease Tenn’s nerves. 

Hearing this, it was finally time for his father to react. “Try not to break down in front of other people, if they find out how weak you are it will sully our good name.” He said coldly. Riku felt his heart clench in his chest at his father’s words. He already knew his body was physically weaker than most boys his age, but did his father really have to say it like he had no strengths at all? Tenn looked over at their father and was just about to start another argument about how he couldn’t say stuff like that to Riku, especially not after everything Riku was prepared to do to help the family out. However reluctant he may be. But he was stopped when Riku grabbed onto his shoulder and gave him a look while shaking his head. 

The twins father simply shook his head in a disapproving manner. After this the atmosphere in the room was very awkward, no one dared to say anything, afraid it would tick someone else off. Riku couldn’t help but wonder where his loving family had gone. When he was little, he had always thought that he was loved by his parents, that this was also the reason why they wouldn’t let him leave, out of love and worry. But maybe they really had just been ashamed of how ‘weak’ he had been, not wanting anyone to see that they had been able to produce such a useless child. Maybe he had just naively thought that he was loved. It hurt to think about this, and he felt a burning sensation behind his eyes that he immediately fought against. 

It worked for a while, but then he was once again filled with dread as he heard the music start playing outside, signaling that it was all starting. He looked out the window and saw that Iori was already walking down the aisle, meaning it would be his turn any minute now. He took a deep breath and looked at his father, who held out his arm, as well as his brother who was about to leave the room. He hesitated for a second then he called out; “Wait!” making Tenn stop in his tracks and his father look at him with a confused expression. 

Riku gulped. “I know it may be inappropriate, and I won’t argue if you say it’s impossible, but I have a request…” He said shyly. His father sighed again and asked, “Well, what is it? I’ll see what can be done.” Riku took a deep breath and looked his father straight in the eyes. “I want Tenn-nii to walk me down the aisle.” He then said firmly. Tenn gasped quietly and his father turned to look at his other son, his expression clearly told both boys that he didn’t like this idea. However, maybe he felt pity for Riku, or maybe he just didn’t want to risk making his son’s condition worse, triggering his asthma and embarrassing the entire family in front of everyone. “Okay, as you wish.” He then swiftly left the room to join the rest of the people outside in the garden. 

Tenn walked up to Riku and hugged his brother, Riku, of course, hugged back. “Will you walk me out? I want you to be the last person I’m with before…” Riku found himself unable to finish the sentence. Tenn just smiled, nodded and dried away the tears that were threatening to fall from Riku’s eyes. “I would be honored to.” He said before letting go of his brother only to hold out his arm again. “Shall we?” He said. Riku nodded and grabbed Tenn’s arm, slowly starting the walk out of the room and down the aisle to the altar. “I guess I don’t really have a choice." He said at last and gave his older brother one last bittersweet smile before they opened the door and exited the privacy of the room they'd been in. 

Out in the garden everyone was now waiting for the bride, when Madame Nanase saw her husband, but none of her sons she wasted no time in asking what was going on. He explained but all he got in reply was a disapproving look before the doors opened and everyone’s eyes focused on one single person. The ‘bride’. 

While Riku slowly walked down the aisle he had no idea where to look, it was like wherever his eyes landed there was something new that made him want to cry and run away. His ears were ringing and he forced a smile to appear on his lips while also fighting to keep his breathing steady, not wanting to raise any suspicion. He held onto Tenn’s arm like a lifeline, like it was the only thing keeping him from collapsing then and there. He looked at the guests and gave them the most genuine-looking smiles he could muster, not sure if it looked natural at all. His feet felt heavier and heavier the closer he got to the altar. Then he looked at Iori. Iori looked good, everything around him looked good, yet, the fact that it all looked so good only made everything worse. It was what really made Riku think ‘this is happening.’ 

Suddenly Tenn stopped, they were at the front. Reluctantly, Riku let go of Tenn’s arm and went to stand across from Iori, looking out into the sea of people in front of them before finally settling on the other man in front of him, as that was what he had been told to do. 

The priest spoke up. “Dearly beloved, we have gathered here today to witness the…” It was around here that Riku stopped listening. Or, more like he couldn’t listen unless he wanted to trigger a panic attack. His eyes were directed at Iori, but he wasn’t actually looking at him, it was as if he was trying to look beyond him, hoping to see whatever was right behind him. Riku stayed in this state until he noticed Iori’s lips moving. He could vaguely make out the sound of Iori’s voice saying; “I do.” It was already time for the vows. 

Realizing that he couldn’t just stand there like a mannequin anymore, Riku decided to start listening. Good thing Iori took his vows before him, or else everyone would have noticed his absence. “Do you, Nanase Riku, take Izumi Iori to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, for better and for worse, in richer and in poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?” The priest said and Riku could literally feel all eyes on him. He swallowed and tried to give Iori a smile, then he said; “I do.” 

After that the rings were brought out and exchanged. Riku felt like the thin, golden ring, richly decorated with jewels, was as heavy as chains, locking him in the same spot, never to be free ever again. Trying his best to ignore the feeling for now, he waited for the priest to finish the ceremony before Riku had another nervous breakdown, this time in front of everyone present for the event. To his relief, he didn’t have to wait long at all. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.” Riku let out a shaky breath as he saw Iori lean in closer. To his surprise he felt more than heard Iori softly whisper something against his lips just before they connected. “I’m sorry.” Then they were kissing, and with that, the ceremony was officially over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now they are married! What will happen next? You'll have to wait until Saturday because that's when I'll be back with the next chapter! I hope you liked this update and thank you so much for all your support via kudos and comments, every single one makes me very happy! <3


	8. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ceremony may be over, but the wedding is far from it. The celebrations have just begun and Riku will get to see some new faces, they will also get an unexpected visitor bearing news from Myronia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again with the next chapter! I was pretty excited about this chapter as I both got to have Riku and Iori kind of bond a little bit, and I also got to introduce a lot of "new" characters (or maybe just the other i7 guys) into this story!  
> Also, very exciting, michan1907 on tumblr sketched some fanart for this fic (omg thank you so much!!!) so be sure to check it out, it's amazing: https://michan1907.tumblr.com/post/182087333923/so-i-actually-tried-drawing-riku-as-girl-but-i  
> With that said, I hope you will like this chapter! And if you have anything you want to say or ask you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

The ceremony had ended without any real problems, however, Riku had excused himself to go to the bathroom in order to calm himself down and allow everything to sink in. He did it. He had actually gotten married to Izumi Iori. It still felt surreal and he couldn’t quite believe it, but it had been done. For now, Riku tried to relax, he still needed to keep up the act in front of the Izumis and the rest of the guests until tonight, after all. He needed to seem like he truly was happy and excited about this marriage, lest he wanted to embarrass his family.

Riku took a deep breath and readjusted the veil that was attached to his head, because in his hurry to get away from everyone, it had gotten a bit loose. He then braced himself and walked back out to the others. He looked around the garden, it truly was like a sea of people, the Izumi family really hadn’t been joking when they said they invited everyone they could think of. Riku wouldn’t be surprised if all of Pandragora’s upper-class was present. It was in this moment that he realized, he was an Izumi now too, wasn’t he? Izumi Riku? He frowned, not really liking the sound of it. 

He finally spotted who he was looking for and walked over. His mother had told him it was of utmost important that he stayed by Iori’s side throughout the entire party, so Riku wasted no time going to be by his side. He needed to make people believe this farce that had been arranged. So, wearing a smile, he called out to his now husband. “Iori!” The other boy turned around, excused himself and walked over to meet Riku in the middle. 

For a few seconds they just stood there, neither really sure what to do, but then Riku caught the eyes of his mother from afar. She gave him this pointed stare, as if she was telling him to do something. Riku decided to just go for it and grabbed onto Iori’s left arm, thus effectively attaching himself at his side. 

Iori was a bit startled by Riku’s sudden movement, not pulling away, but neither really sure what to do now. Having both seen and heard about what Riku’s opinion was on their marriage he felt like he might be forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do, and to be honest, Iori himself was very far out of his comfort zone by now. He looked around, nervously smiling at those who were looking their way, then he bent down slightly to get a better angle, whispering in Riku’s ear. “You know you don’t have to force yourself, right? I won’t take any offense if you feel uncomfortable with anything, it’s all so new so you really don’t have to push yourself too hard.” He told her, hoping it might make her feel a tiny bit better. 

Riku wasn’t really expecting Iori to tell him this, Iori had since the moment they met seemed like the prime example of someone who would do anything that was needed of him, despite his own feelings. And actually acting like a couple was a given in their situation. Still, a part of Riku felt grateful for Iori’s concern. “Thanks, but I think I’ll stay like this. According to literally everybody else it would be awfully inappropriate for me to wander about on my own. Besides, I think the physical contact grounds me a little, makes my mind a bit clearer, and it won’t hurt to try and sell it to the masses either.” He answered, also keeping his voice low as to not alert anybody else. 

Iori nodded, even though the physical contact had the complete opposite effect on him. Instead of making his head clearer, it actually made it harder to focus on his surroundings. He cleared his throat and once again turned to Riku, this time however, he wasn’t nearly as close to her face as he was before. “Well, you have yet to greet the guests, right? There are way too many people here for you to get to know them all, but I could take you around and introduce you to the most important people, as well as those I’m close with? If you'd like that?” He proposed, hoping that the other people around them would help distract him. 

Riku nodded. “That seems like a good idea, I suppose.” He answered, and then they were off. At first, they greeted some other family members, some of Iori’s aunts, uncles and cousins. After that came the family’s business partners, while talking to them Riku made a mental note that he would have to do some more research on what the Izumi family did for a living. He already knew the general gist of it, but if he was going to be able to help in any way in the future, he needed to know more about it. Maybe he should ask Iori about it, he seemed like the kind of guy who would explain it without judging him for not researching it properly beforehand. Riku decided to bring it up at a later occasion. 

All of a sudden Iori stopped, Riku looked up at him, giving him a questioning look. Without meeting his gaze Iori spoke up. “I can see my brother talking to some people over there, I think that should be where we go next.” He said, Riku nodded and hummed in acknowledgement, but when he tried to leave Iori stopped him. “Aren’t we going?” Riku asked confused. Iori then started explaining who they were before they wet up to talk to them. “The two people talking to him are Nii-san’s best friends, one of them, Nikaido Yamato, is the son of Pandragora’s most successful entertainer, watching one of his performances is about as expensive as buying a new house. His family is the third richest in the entire kingdom. The other one is here representing the royal family itself. Rokuya Nagi, or Nagi von North, the second son of the King of Pandragora, a prince.” 

Hearing Iori’s explanation made Riku tense up. The people he had been introduced to so far may have been really important to the Izumis, but these two were on a whole other level. One of them was the prince for god’s sake! Riku had never even seen a member of Myronia’s royal family and now he was about to be introduced to Pandragoran royalty. He gulped and looked at Iori, this time failing to hide how scared and uncomfortable he looked. Seeing this made Iori panic slightly. “Look, we don’t have to go over there now if you don’t want to, but they will want to talk to you sooner or later today. And despite their status, they are actually really nice people. They are both really close friends with my brother, and they’re also kind of easygoing, so they’re not going to judge you, we’ll just say hello and then be on our way, okay?” He said. 

Riku was still really nervous and out of his comfort zone but he nodded and concealed his worries with a smile plastered on his face, hoping they wouldn’t see through it. “Nii-san, Rokuya-san, Nikaido-san.” Iori called out as they got closer. The three heard him and turned around, Riku smiled politely as the two unfamiliar people seemed to observe him. 

“Ah, Iori, Riku! I was wondering where you two went! It's so hard to find anyone amongst all these people.” Mitsuki exclaimed. Having finally reached them Iori and Riku decided to let go of each other for the time being so that they could greet the others properly. “I was taking Riku around, introducing her to the guests since she didn’t get a chance to meet them before the ceremony.” Iori told his brother. 

“Well then, an introduction it is.” One of the two men Riku didn’t know said. He was fairly tall, taller than Iori at least, had green hair and a pair of glasses rested on the bridge of his nose. “I’m Nikaido Yamato, a friend of Mitsu over here, nice to meet you! Take care of Ichi now, will you? Make sure he doesn’t work himself into the ground. Haha.” The man, Yamato, said while ruffling Iori’s hair, Iori looked very flustered at his actions, exclaiming; “Nikaido-san! Please stop doing that!” 

“Haha, sorry, sorry!” He said. Riku smiled at their interaction, it seemed sweet that they were all so close. “Haha. I’ll certainly do my best!” Riku said, trying to sound serious yet a bit like he was joking at the same time. Yamato smiled. Before Riku could say anything else, however, he felt someone grab his hand. He looked the other way and saw that the other man, Nagi he reminded himself that his name was, had grabbed his right hand, lifting it up to his face and was now lightly kissing his knuckles. 

Riku’s face flushed red and he was finding it hard to formulate a proper sentence. “E-eh? Wh-wha?” The blond man in front of him smiled, but didn’t let go of Riku’s hand, instead he pulled him even closer and started talking. “Hello, My Lady. I’m Rokuya Nagi. I feel utterly blessed to be in the presence of such a beautiful woman! Oh, how lucky Iori must be to have you all to himself.” Riku was freaking out. This was the prince of Pandragora?! Why was he suddenly being embraced by him? Why was he so close? Wasn’t this inappropriate, considering Iori was standing right there? 

Beside the two, the remaining three could not believe what was happening. Well, maybe they could, they all knew Nagi was a bit of a womanizer, after all. But still, to do something like that to someone who had just gotten married while her husband was right there? “R-Rokuya-san? What are you doing?” Iori exclaimed as he reached for Riku, pulling his wife away from the blonde man’s hold, checking to make sure she was okay. 

Mitsuki smacked Nagi on the head while Yamato simply laughed. “I’m sorry, you were just so beautiful I couldn’t help myself.” Nagi said and winked. Riku smiled awkwardly and turned to him again, remembering that no matter how he acted, he was still the prince. “It’s fine, I was just a bit startled is all. Maybe you shouldn’t do that again though, otherwise people might start to talk.” He said, hoping that would make sure nothing like that happened again. 

“Of course.” Nagi said, still smiling. Iori figured they should probably be on their way now, before something else happened. “Well, we have some more people we’d like to greet before the feast starts, so if you’ll excuse us.” He said. The three men grinned and waved to them as the pair left to go find some other people to talk to. Once they were far enough away so that they wouldn’t be heard Iori stopped and looked over Riku. “Are you okay? I’m really sorry about Rokuya-san, I should have warned you that he might have gotten a bit hands-on. That’s just how he is. I really didn’t want to startle you.” He said. 

Riku, once again, was a bit taken aback by Iori’s behavior, thinking back on it, it really hadn’t been that big of a deal, but he still appreciated the concern. “It’s fine, really, you don’t have to worry about it. Where to next?” He said. Iori looked around before he spotted some other familiar figures. “Over there, see the guy with light purple, almost white hair? He’s the only son of the Osaka family, Osaka Sougo. His family are the ones in charge of the trade throughout the kingdom, anything imported, exported, sold or bought goes through them. The man to his right, that’s Yotsuba Tamaki, Osaka-san’s personal guard.” Iori explained and Riku nodded before he reattached himself at Iori’s side as they walked over to the two. 

“Ah, Sou-chan! Look over there, it’s Iorin and that girl!” Yotsuba Tamaki, who had spotted the two walking over exclaimed. “Tamaki-kun! Her name is Riku, you can’t just refer to her as ‘that girl’, it’s extremely rude!” Osaka Sougo scolded, to which Tamaki simply answered with a “Yeah, yeah.” 

Iori and Riku reached the other two, who both congratulated the pair on their marriage before introducing themselves. “My name is Osaka Sougo, the son of Osaka Soushi, the owner of the Five Star Company that controls the markets here in Pandragora. It's a pleasure to meet you.” Sougo said politely, followed by Tamaki, “Yotsuba Tamaki, I work for Sou-chan.” Sougo elbowed him in the ribs for his informal tone before turning back to Riku and Iori. “It’s very nice to meet you, I’m Na- I mean Izumi Riku. Sorry, it seems I’m still not quite used to it.” Riku said awkwardly, cursing himself for messing up. However, the others seemed to understand and spoke nothing of it. 

Before anyone could do or say anything else though, something unexpected happened. A Myronian messenger rode inside on his horse, grabbing everybody’s attention. “Excuse me, I’m looking for Nanase Tenn, it’s urgent.” Tenn immediately perked up and walked over to the man, suggesting they go somewhere more private. 

Riku looked at the scene that was unfolding before him and couldn’t help but feel a bit unnerved by it. He turned to Iori and said; “Iori, is it okay if I go check out what’s happening? That person was a royal messenger, something must have happened back in Myronia for them to come all the way here. I want to check if my brother’s okay.” He said, hoping Iori would understand. He did understand and told Riku that it was okay for him to go, he would wait right where he was with Sougo and Tamaki for Riku to return. And so, with Iori’s okay, Riku went off to find his brother. 

It took a while, but after a few minutes of searching Riku finally found them. They were talking and Riku didn’t want to interrupt so he stayed some distance away, waiting for them to finish up. Soon, the messenger mounted his horse again and bid Tenn farewell. Just as Tenn was about to walk back he spotted Riku. He sighed and stopped in his tracks, taking this as his que, Riku walked up to his brother. “What was that all about?” He asked. 

Tenn looked away, guilt plastered all over his face. “Riku, I’m so sorry, but I have to leave. Tonight.” He said. “What? But weren’t you supposed to stay here for the rest of the week? You’re leaving me alone here so soon? Why?! What happened?!” Riku asked, panic setting in. He felt like he couldn’t do this anymore, not if Tenn was leaving so early. 

Seeing the state Riku was in, Tenn wasted no time in pulling his brother close, rubbing calming circles on his back. “I’m so sorry. It’s just,” He started before he pulled away. “They’ve found a clue leading to the Queen’s murderer, and Gaku, you know, the prince of Myronia, asked me to join his squad. We’ll be in charge of the investigation from now on.” Riku looked at Tenn with shock. They’d found a clue? And now the prince wanted his brother’s help in solving the Queen’s murder? Riku understood why Tenn had to leave, even if he didn’t like it, there was nothing he could do to stop it. Instead he asked; “What did they find?” 

“A letter. They think it belonged to the assassins, from whoever ordered the Queen’s death. There was a sigil on it, but they still don’t know who it belongs to. Here,” Tenn paused his explanation to pull out a piece of paper. On it, there was a symbol drawn, the sigil, undoubtedly. Riku looked at it, a circle with what looked like a fire-breathing bird? Maybe a crow or a raven? Riku had never seen anything like it. “is what the sigil looks like.” Tenn finished. 

Riku looked at Tenn again. “You’ll write, right? Let me know if anything happens.” He said. Tenn nodded. “I promise, and when I get the chance, I’ll make sure to come visit. They can’t very well kick me out, what with me being your brother and all.” He assured Riku, smiling. Riku nodded and forced himself to give Tenn a smile, and then the two started heading back towards the party. However, before they got too close to the guests Riku grabbed Tenn’s sleeve, effectively making him stop in his tracks. “I have one more request.” He said and Tenn looked at him in confusion. “Will you keep me updated on how the investigation is going? If you find anything new or figure out who’s behind it, will you let me know?” He asked. Tenn was shocked, hearing Riku’s request, but agreed nonetheless. 

The two of them then headed back to the party, Tenn joining his parents, letting them know about the situation, while Riku headed back to Iori, his head now filled with thoughts swirling around, making it hard to concentrate on much else. 

A few hours passed, and everyone was currently seated at the many tables prepared beforehand. A few speeches had been held and a lot of food and cake had been consumed. With the Izumis being world-famous chefs and bakers, everything was of course delicious. In fact, Riku had never tasted anything better in his entire life. So the food being amazingly good, combined with the fact that he was still extremely nervous made him eat a lot more than he probably should have. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice his nervous overeating. 

By now, everyone who had wanted to speak had spoken and the guests were simply conversing while digesting their food. Iori decided this would be a good time to ask Riku about what had happened before, so he tapped Riku’s shoulder. “Hey, can you tell me what happened earlier? With your brother and that messenger.” He said. 

Riku was a bit unsure if he should tell Iori everything, but he supposed the truth would come out sooner or later. Also, right now he really didn’t want any more secrets to keep. “They found a clue as to who might have hired the assassins who killed the queen.” He said, waiting for Iori’s reaction. 

Whatever Iori had expected, this was not it. He looked at Riku in shock. “They already know who did it?” He asked eagerly. Riku shook his head. “No, they only found a small clue, they aren’t sure what it means yet.” He said, then paused to look around, making sure no one else was listening. To be extra safe, he leaned in closer to Iori before continuing. 

“They found a letter that belonged to one of the assassins, telling him to kill the queen. It’s probably from the one who wanted the queen dead in the first place. There wasn’t really much information about the sender, but there was a sigil.” Riku explained. Iori thought for a few seconds, but he quickly realized what that meant. “So, if they can identify the sigil, they’ll know who the killer is?” He asked. 

Riku nodded. “However, they’ve never seen that specific sigil before, it looked like some kind of bird, like a crow or a raven, and it was breathing fire.” Iori took a while longer this time, processing the new information. “I’ve never heard of a sigil like that either…” He then said. 

Riku leaned away slightly, however, he still stayed close. “Tenn-nii was asked to assist the prince in his investigation, so he and the rest of my family will have to return to Myronia tonight, once the celebration is over.” He said at last. 

Iori looked at Riku, this time however, he looked more concerned than anything else. “Are you okay with that? I mean, that they leave so much earlier than planned.” He asked. Riku smiled bitterly, not even being able to force a decent-looking smile onto his face, before saying; “It’s not like me being upset about it will change anything. They will leave, and I’ll be all alone here.” He said without realizing exactly what it was he had been implying. He quickly turned to look at Iori, facial expression looking guilty. 

Riku swallowed. “S-sorry, I didn’t mean…” He trailed off and looked away, facing the ground. He suddenly felt like he couldn’t do this anymore. “Excuse me for a minute.” He said before standing up, heading inside with the excuse that he needed to use the bathroom, thus effectively escaping the scene before Iori could say anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got to introduce Yamato, Nagi, Sougo and Tamaki!!! They will all have more appearances throughout this story, but just like with Tsumugi, they're not main characters. I'll also make sure to include the guys from TRIGGER and Re:vale too. ^^ The only actual main characters, however, are Iori and Riku, with Tenn and Mistuki appearing quite a lot, since they are their respective brother.  
> Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading and I hope you liked this chapter and are excited for more, because there is certainly more to come! ;) I'll be back on Wednesday with the next chapter, so look forward to that!  
> As usual, your comments and kudos mean so much to me, so thank you so much! <3<3<3


	9. Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The celebration is over and the Nanase family has to leave earlier than they had planned, how will this affect things?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Wednesday, which means it's time for another update! Today's chapter is quite short, but hopefully you will think it's good. Also, there's more amazing fanart by michan1907! Thank you so much! Make sure to check it out, you can find it here: https://twitter.com/michan1907/status/1087009834010959873  
> So, without further ado, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and if you want to talk to me or ask me something you can do so over on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on my Twitter: @EFagerhag

Evening arrived in Lawlee and the celebration came to an end. Most of the guests were leaving, while some who lived farther away were staying the night. The Izumis had just learned that the Nanase family, who were supposed to stay for almost an entire week, had to leave early. So once all the guests were either seen off or shown to their respective rooms, the two families gathered outside.

“Well, we’re really sorry to leave so soon, we had wished to help with the clean-up and stay with our daughter for a few more days, but what can you do?” Riku’s father said, however, Riku couldn’t hear anything other than lies. He was probably happy to be out of there as soon as possible, he and Riku’s mother hadn’t been required to return to Myronia, but when they heard that Tenn had to go they took the chance to escape as soon as everything was finished. 

Madame Izumi walked forwards, putting her hands on Riku’s shoulders. “Oh, I can assure you that she is in good hands. She’s part of the family after all, we won’t let anything bad happen to her.” She said and squeezed a little harder. Riku turned his head to look at the woman, his mother-in-law he reminded himself, and forced a small smile onto his lips. 

The next person to speak up was Mister Izumi. “Thank you so much for coming all this way for this, we all look forward to working with you in the future and know that you are all welcome back here whenever you want!” He said and shook hands with Mister Nanase, a silent agreement that they would ensure that the other got what they needed. In other words, the real reason for this marriage. “You as well, if you ever need it, you are welcome to Myronia whenever. We’ll be glad to have you.” Riku’s father replied politely. 

“Well then, I think we’d better be on our way if we want to reach Port Danix before sunrise.” This time it was Madame Nanase who spoke, she then walked over to Riku and pulled him into a hug. “Goodbye darling, I’ll miss you so much. Take care of yourself now, you hear me?” She said and Riku nodded while burying his face in his mother’s shoulder. He knew she didn’t mean what she said but her warmth was still so familiar and comforting that it calmed down the storm in his heart. She let go way too soon if you asked Riku, smiled at him and then entered the carriage. 

Next was Riku’s father, he too pulled Riku in for a hug. Now that Riku thought about it, it had probably been at least 15 years since he last got a proper hug from his father. His mother’s hugs weren’t all that uncommon, she had often helped with his condition which usually resulted in Riku curling up close to her, after all. His father didn’t say anything out loud, but before he pulled away, he whispered something in Riku’s ear. “Don’t you dare fuck this up now.” Riku wanted to cry, but he told himself he wouldn’t. Not now, when everyone could see him. 

At last it was his brother. Tenn didn’t waste any time, he hugged Riku as if his life depended on it, and Tenn really did not want to let go. He wanted to bring Riku with him, to take him away to a place where he could make sure that no harm would come to him. But he couldn’t, so instead he spoke quietly, not a whisper, but still silent enough so that the others wouldn’t be able to make out the words. “I love you so much, never forget that. If anything happens, anything at all, just let me know.” It felt like there was so much more to say, but no one knew how to say it, so before they let go of each other, Riku settled on; “I love you too.” They pulled away from each other and before Tenn entered the carriage he turned around to look at his little brother again, giving him a smile that told him that everything would be okay. 

Riku didn't believe him for a second. 

After watching the Nanases leave, Riku and the rest of the Izumis went back inside. Starting now, this was his new home, his new family, his new life. It still felt surreal. Before everyone could go off on their own, Madame Izumi stopped everyone by speaking. “Well, it’s been a long and eventful day, but I’d say it was a success.” She said while smiling brightly. Her husband was quick to agree, nodding his head and humming, while Iori and Mitsuki just smiled at her. She then turned to Riku, this time speaking directly to him. 

“I understand if this is all very sudden, and that it’s all new, but we all sincerely hope that you’ll come to like it here. You’re a part of our family now, and in our family we all help take care of each other!” She said while pulling him into a tight hug, Riku didn’t return it but he did make sure to smile and thank her and the rest of the Izumis properly. However, Madame Izumi wasn’t finished yet. 

“Takanashi-san will be staying with the other servants in their dorms but you just have to call her if you need anything. I also asked her to take care of moving your things.” This took Riku by surprise. What did Madame Izumi mean when she said Tsumugi had taken care of ‘moving his things’? He decided that the best way to figure this out was probably to just ask her directly. “I’m sorry, but did you say she moved my things? Where to? And why?” He asked confused. 

Madame Izumi looked at him as if the answer was supposed to be obvious and it honestly made him feel quite stupid. “Well, to your new bedroom of course. The one you were given before was just a temporary guestroom, now however, you’ll obviously live with Iori in one of the master bedrooms of the house.” Riku paled and hoped that his dismay didn’t show on his face. How could he not have realized? Of course they would want him to share a bedroom with Iori, they were married after all. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had failed to realize this. 

“Wait, with me? I’m moving rooms too?” Iori asked, to which both his mother and father looked taken aback. “But of course! Although your things are still in your room, you can have them moved yourself tomorrow, right?” His mother asked. Iori and Riku looked at each other before they were shown the way to their new, combined bedroom by Madame Izumi. Once they were there she quickly left, not wanting to bother the two anymore. 

The room was very big, much larger than the room Riku had owned back in Laball. The walls were a light blue color with white roof, floor and frames. Along the wall across from the door there were two big windows framed with long, white curtains, and in between them was a glass door leading out to a balcony. To the left there was a huge, king-sized bed with dark blue covers and lots of pillows in shades of white, gray and blue. There were bedside tables on each side of the bed and along the wall on both sides of the door there were wardrobes and bookshelves. Across from the bed, along the wall to the right there was a small, round table with an armchair on either side of it. On the far end of the right wall there was a door and on the other side there was a big bathroom with white walls, a big sink, a toilet, a cabinet, a big mirror, some hooks and the biggest bathtub Riku had ever seen. 

Everything looked fresh and beautiful and Riku would have most likely been very pleased with the room if he did not have to share it. He appreciated his alone time, he always had, and now he didn’t even have a room to himself. He realized that on the bed there was a nightgown and a box, most probably intended for him, unless Iori wore frilly, white dresses to bed. He sighed, grabbed what was on the bed and quickly excused himself. “I should probably go get changed.” Is what he said before disappearing into the bathroom before Iori had the chance to say anything else. 

And so, Riku started getting ready. He took off everything, all the jewelry, the wig, the dress and the make-up. He looked at himself as he was. This was what he looked like, no long, flowing hair, no bust, there was nothing female about him at all. And yet, here he was, trying his best to look as much like a girl as he possibly could. He drew a bath for himself, relaxing in the hot water, however, he got out a lot earlier than he wanted to, not willing to risk Iori entering the bathroom out of concern. 

He quickly reapplied his disguise, the wig was on, but this time the hair was let out and not in some fancy hairdo. He put on the nightgown and looked at himself in the mirror once more. It was still him, but at the same time it wasn’t. It was as if someone had taken his face and put it on somebody else’s body. He could feel tears welling up again, at least this time he wasn’t wearing any make-up that he had to be careful about not ruining. Collecting himself and taking some shaky breaths he decided that it was time to go back out into the bedroom. 

Iori was still in the bedroom, or rather, he was back in the bedroom. He must have left in order to get changed as well, as he was currently only wearing a pair of loose black pants and a thin white shirt. Hearing the door open he turned around and looked at Riku, he gulped before averting his gaze, not really sure what to do. In the end, he decided that he should probably say something. “Uhm, I’m sorry this is so sudden. And I’m also sorry if this is making you uncomfortable, I really don’t want to…” Then he trailed off, not really sure of what it was he didn’t want to do. 

Riku didn’t know why but he suddenly just felt so sad and angry, hearing Iori apologize even though, technically, he hadn’t done anything wrong. All he had done was to go along with the whishes of his and Riku’s parents, just like Riku had. The whole day, Riku had pretended, he had played his part, and he was already so tired of it. All the pent-up emotions just seemed to overflow, and he couldn’t control it anymore. So, even if Iori hadn’t done anything wrong, he was the easiest one to take it all out on. 

“Oh my god, can you stop apologizing for every little thing? I get that I look like I’m upset and uncomfortable and miserable with everything that happens, and guess what, I am! There’s no need for you to rub it in! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!” He screamed out, raw and hurt, before he collapsed onto the floor, crying his eyes out. 

Iori was taken aback. Sure, he already knew that what had transpired today wasn’t what Riku had wanted but he hadn’t expected her to show him so much pure sorrow and irritation right off the bat. At first, he instinctively started walking towards her, to try and comfort her. But he stopped before he reached her, remembering her words and thinking that he would probably only make the situation worse. So instead he whispered; “I’m sorry.” He then walked off to the bed and lay down, trying his best to ignore the crying that could be heard from the other end of the room and how it completely broke his heart to hear someone be in so much pain, yet not being able to do something about it. 

As the time passed, it got quiet and Iori was almost able to fall asleep. But just before he did, he felt the bed dip beside him and a warmth spreading to him from the other end of the bed. Feeling a little bit at ease at the fact that Riku was no longer sat on the floor, he passed out from the exhaustion of everything that had happened that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, I am, once again, so sorry! My babies! Anyway, I promise you it won't be much longer until all this angst is over (or maybe not), so just bear with me. As usual, the next update will be on Saturday so look forward to that! See you guys soon! Your comments and kudos make my days, thank you so much for leaving them! ^^


	10. New Starts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Riku's breakdown, how will the two boys act around each other and the rest of the family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Saturday and I'm feeling a bit sick, but that won't stop me from updating! It's during moments like these when I'm really happy I still have some chapters pre-written, as I haven't had any energy to write this week since I've felt so sick... But enough about that, I hope you enjoy this new chapter! If you have any questions or just want to talk to me, you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

The next morning, Riku woke up to the sun hitting his face. He groaned slightly, turned around and buried himself in the duvet, not really wanting to get up yet. That was when he realized that he wasn’t alone, right in front of him there was another person. Startled, he quickly sat up. That was when he realized that it was only Iori, and that he really shouldn’t have been surprised considering he already knew that they had slept in the same bed.

Iori was still asleep and Riku couldn’t help but observe his sleeping face. He had to admit that he was quite handsome, he also seemed like a very kind, caring and hardworking person. Riku really could have had way worse luck with who he had been forced to marry. Thinking about this made him feel a bit guilty. He really took out all of his anger on Iori yesterday even though the other man had just tried to make sure he was okay. Riku made a mental note to apologize for his behavior later and then left the bed. 

He quietly made his way to the closets, trying to figure out which one held his clothes. It wasn’t very hard as there were only two, one for him and one for Iori. He then picked out an outfit and grabbed everything he needed before going into the bathroom, locking the door behind him, and started getting ready for the day. Riku hated to admit it, but after only three days he was already getting accustomed to the routine. 

Once he was finished he headed back into the other room, made his side of the bed, folded his nightgown and put it down on the covers. He looked at Iori, who was still asleep and debated weather he should wake him up or not. After a few seconds, however, he realized that he did not have the courage to face him yet, not after everything that happened yesterday. Instead he just sighed and left the room as quietly as he could so that he wouldn't accidentally wake up Iori. 

Just as he closed the door, Riku could feel his stomach rumble, he was getting really hungry. Deciding that it was probably not impossible to either make some breakfast himself or have someone else help him out, he decided to try and find the kitchen. However, the longer he walked, the more aware he became that he had absolutely no idea where he was going. Everything had been so busy with the preparations and the celebration when he arrived, so he had never really had the time to learn the building's layout. He only knew how to find his way between his old bedroom and the entrance, as well as the way to the nearest bathroom. 

He kept walking, but sooner or later he had to admit that he was undoubtedly lost. The building also seemed way too empty, as the Izumi family had a lot of servants and there had also been quite a lot of guests who had stayed the night after the wedding. Despite this, Riku had yet to see a single person. Had he mistaken the time and it was actually super early in the morning? But the sun was clearly already up, so that couldn’t be the case. Had he and Iori overslept and it was already starting to get late, and so all the guests had already left? Riku sighed, he was just really confused. 

After stopping to think for a while, Riku decided that it might be best to go back to his room, wake Iori up and have him show him around the house, so that he wouldn’t get lost again. However, Riku soon realized that this was going to be extremely hard as he had no idea where he had come from. 

Realizing that he wouldn’t get anywhere by staying where he was, wallowing in self-pity, he started walking again. Sooner or later he was bound to either run into someone or find his destination, after all. It was only one house for god’s sake, how hard could it be? 

Turns out it was a lot easier than he thought. As he rounded the next corner, he felt a wonderful scent fill the air, it was the scent of freshly baked bread. He followed it, thinking it would take him to the kitchen, and within a minute he found what he had been looking for all morning. Once he had entered, he first thought the big kitchen was empty and silently cheered, thinking that he could finally make something to eat for himself. But as it turns out, the kitchen was, in fact, not empty. 

Someone had been crouching down behind the counters on the other side of the kitchen, and they had heard someone enter which made them rise back up to see who had joined them. As they saw who it was, they immediately called out. “Riku? Is that you?” 

Riku jumped upon hearing his name, not expecting anyone else to be in the room. He turned around, his hand clutching his chest to see who was there. “Mitsuki-san?” It was, indeed, Iori’s older brother, Izumi Mitsuki. He walked over to Riku while chuckling. “Haha, I’m sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” He said as he joined Riku by the entrance. 

Riku forced a smile, Mitsuki seemed nice enough, but he’d been so busy that the two hadn’t really had the time to talk much. “It’s fine, I should have been more aware of my surroundings.” He responded and shifted awkwardly on his feet. Mitsuki just kept smiling. “Well, I'm glad to see someone else up, I mean, I get that people are tired after yesterday, but it was starting to get a bit lonely. Care to keep me company? Or did you have something you needed to do?” He asked. 

Riku was starting to relax slightly, it really wasn’t as awkward as he made it out to be at first, Mitsuki was actually very easy to talk to. “Not really, I was just feeling a bit hungry, so I was going to get some breakfast, but then I got kind of lost on my way here. You know, it’s all still so new.” Riku hadn’t planned to reveal that he had gotten lost, it just sort of slipped out. After realizing what he had just admitted to, he covered his mouth and blushed. 

Mitsuki laughed. “Well, I will admit that our house is quite big, but I don’t think anyone’s ever gotten lost in it before!” Riku was feeling a bit ashamed, why did he have to blurt all of that out? Mitsuki continued. “But if it’s breakfast you wanted, I can make you some. I was actually just baking some bread, and if you’re willing to wait for like ten minutes I’ll cut some up for you.” He said while smiling. 

Riku’s eyes lit up as he heard this, the bread smelled delicious, and the Izumis were famous all over the world for their cooking and baking skills, he couldn’t just pass up this opportunity. And so, he agreed to Mitsuki’s offer, joining him by the ovens. The two talked while they waited and Riku found that he really did get along great with Mitsuki, he was very friendly, and he was also great at keeping the conversation going, so it never became awkward. 

A few minutes, and way too many slices of bread later, someone else entered the kitchen. The two looked up and saw that Iori was now awake. “Oh, Iori! Good morning! Or maybe I should say good day! You slept for so long, it’s almost midday already.” Mitsuki greeted his brother. Iori, still looking a bit tired, walked towards them and, without saying a word, grabbed some bread and started eating. Mitsuki just laughed at his brother’s antics, then he started to clean up the mess he made while baking. 

Since Mitsuki left the two alone, although, technically he was still there, just in another part of the room, the atmosphere became very awkward very quickly. Last night’s events were still fresh in the minds of both Riku and Iori, and neither was very sure about how they should act now that they were together. Seeing this, Mitsuki figured he should probably say something. “Hey Iori! You should show Riku around the house today, apparently she got lost this morning trying to find the kitchen!” He said while grinning before leaving them alone in the room. 

Riku’s eyes were blown wide and his cheeks turned scarlet. “Mitsuki-san! Why would you tell him that?!” But it was too late, the words were already out and so was apparently Mitsuki. Riku glanced over at Iori to try to see his reaction and found that he was hiding his mouth behind his hand while trying to stifle his laughter. Riku’s mouth was agape, he had never seen Iori laugh like that before, and Riku honestly felt a bit offended. He lightly hit his arm. “Hey! Don’t laugh! I was never shown around, and besides, this house is bigger than the one I lived in back home! You can’t blame me for not knowing where to go!” He told him, then he crossed his arms and looked away, a pout forming on his lips. 

Iori soon managed to collect himself. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just that I didn’t think you could get lost in a house.” He said. Riku looked at him, offended. “Well, the more you know.” He said before he turned around and started to walk away, he didn’t want to deal with this right now. Before he could get far, however, he felt Iori grab onto his wrist, effectively stopping him from leaving the kitchen. “Wait, I didn’t mean to offend you. I'm sorry.” He said. 

Riku sighed and turned around to look at him, but as soon as he did, he turned away again, wearing a guilty expression. Everything that had happened last night was coming back in full force. The two were silent, neither really knowing what to do or say in this situation. But then, Riku spoke. “Hey, about what I said yesterday, I’m sorry.” As he said this, he faced the ground, not wanting to see Iori’s face right now. 

“What? Look, it’s fine. You were under a lot of pressure, believe me, I get it. Besides, I kind of already knew beforehand what your opinion on the arranged marriage was, so you really don’t need to apologize.” Iori said, hoping that, maybe they could try to understand where the other was coming from. Hearing what Iori said made Riku a bit confused so he looked up and asked; “Wait, you already knew? How?” 

Iori chuckled lightly. “Your brother told me, you two are really close, right? I could tell that he really cares about you?” Riku listened in disbelief. Tenn had told him? Why would he do that when Riku had tried so hard not to let him know? Not that he had succeeded with it, but at least he had tried. Riku didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t say anything. Instead Iori started talking again. “I don’t know if it’ll make the situation better or worse, but I actually felt the same way. I mean, I can understand why this,” He paused to gesture to the two of them, then continued. “would be beneficial, but I wasn’t all that thrilled when I learned I was getting married to someone I didn't know.” 

This, Riku had not expected. Iori had seemed so onboard with everything that Riku had naturally thought he didn’t mind something like this at all. But in reality, Iori had also been against all of this. He hadn’t wanted to get married, he had been forced into this just as much as Riku had been. “That, uhm, I didn’t know that. But you never said anything, or showed that you were against it in any way, why not?” Riku asked. 

“Well, because I know that my parents need this connection, and I love my family. Even if I didn’t really want to go through with it, I would if it meant helping them out.” He answered. Riku swallowed, Iori was so different from what Riku had initially thought and he started to feel really bad about everything he had done. “Thank you.” He whispered. Iori looked at him weirdly, not fully grasping the situation. “Why are you thanking me?” He asked. 

“Because you made me feel better, telling me all of this. I’m still sorry for how I acted, I don’t actually hate you, I hate the marriage. I was just pent up and you happened to be there the moment my walls broke, I guess. I’m really sorry for taking it all out on you.” Riku said, this time looking Iori straight in the eye. Iori smiled hearing this. “Apology accepted.” He then said. 

Riku turned to look the other way before he spoke again. “And just so you know, you’re a lot better of a person than I had expected. I thought I’d have to marry some snobby, bossy, rich kid. But then I actually met you and you were so different from what I’d expected! You were kind, and thoughtful, and you honestly seemed concerned about my wellbeing, and I think I was a bit overwhelmed.” As Riku spoke, a blush spread across his face. He couldn’t believe he was actually saying this stuff. 

Iori smiled as he listened, and then he had a thought. Maybe, just maybe, the two of them would be able to do this, maybe they would be able to figure all of this out and do it together. “Thank you, that is very nice of you to say.” He said, then it was silent again. Neither knew what should come next. But that was when Iori remembered what Mitsuki had suggested. “Hey, do you want me to show you around the house? That way you won’t get lost again.” He offered with a smile. 

Riku couldn’t help but smile at Iori’s playful tone, he supposed knowing his way around the house he would be living in might have its perks. So, he nodded. “I’d like that.” And then they were off, however, before they had even left the kitchen Riku noticed something and stopped to say; “Do you think you could let go of my wrist first?” Iori looked down, and sure enough, he was still holding onto Riku’s wrist that he had grabbed when Riku had tried to leave earlier. He immediately let go and apologized, and then they were off. 

The tour of the mansion had taken a lot longer than either one of them had anticipated. Riku found himself asking a lot of questions about the different rooms as well as about the Izumi family in general. He had learned more about what they did, a little bit of history, what their connections were, how the different family members were, and so on. Iori had also been talking more than he thought he would be. Of course, he would answer Riku’s questions as well as he could, none of them were really all that personal, so it hadn’t been that difficult to answer. Besides, it could be good for Riku to know these things if she was going to stay here for a long time. 

As they advanced through the house they had met more and more people, some were leaving and wished them good luck in their marriage before biding them farewell, while others simply greeted the two. A few hours later they had reached the last room. The big, wooden doors looked a little bit intimidating to Riku, who wasn’t sure what to expect. They’d already passed the kitchen, lots of bedrooms, some studies, some lounges, the living room, the entranceway, some bathrooms, he’d even been shown the doors that led to the attic and the basement. 

“Well, this is the last room.” Iori said and looked at Riku in anticipation as the other inspected the door suspiciously. “What’s in there?” Riku asked, really not sure what to expect. Iori just smiled and put his hand on the handle. “Relax, it’s actually one of my favorite rooms, I spend quite a lot of my spare time in here.” He said. Riku nodded and visibly relaxed at Iori’s words. Then the door was swung open. 

As Riku entered and looked at what was hiding inside he was at a loss for words. His mouth hung open and his eyes were blown wide. He even got goosebumps and felt his legs shake. Inside the room were rows and rows of bookcases, from the floor to the ceiling, as far as the eye could see. It was a library. “Y-you have a library?” Riku asked, and he didn’t quite like how breathless he sounded. 

Iori nodded and walked inside. “Yeah, our family’s been collecting these books for generations, some are over a hundred years old. Do you like it?” He asked curiously. Instead of answering Riku walked inside, closing the door behind him, then started to explore. It must have been the biggest room in the entire house. “This place is amazing! I mean, we had a library back at home too, but this is so much bigger!” He exclaimed as he wandered through the rows of books excitedly. Iori was following close behind, observing Riku as she was looking through his family’s collection. He didn’t think anyone could get this excited about books. He himself loved reading, but not to the extent that he would be this ecstatic by just being inside of a library. He actually found it quite endearing. 

“Wait, I can read these books, right?” Riku asked Iori, who in turn just stared, unable to believe that she had really just asked that. “Yes, of course. Everything in this library is as much yours as it is ours. You don’t need to ask permission to read your own books in your own library, right?” He said, to which Riku immediately perked up. He couldn’t believe this, he loved books and everything about them, this was like heaven to Riku. 

Just then Iori thought of something. “You know, if you think this is impressive then I’ll have to bring you to the village of Iroche sometime. It’s the village that is located the farthest to the north, so it’s quite cold up there, but its also home to the biggest library in the entire world. You’ll love it.” Riku couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He needed a moment to collect himself, and thus, crouched on the floor. This concerned Iori slightly as he wasted no time and knelt by Riku’s side. “Are you okay?” He asked. 

Riku was holding his face in his hands, refusing to look up, and because of this, the next thing he said came out a bit muffled. “Would you really take me there?” Iori nodded, but soon realized that Riku still wasn’t looking at him and instead answered; “Sure, if you want to. I mean, not now, obviously. But maybe in a couple of weeks, once everything’s calmed down?” 

Riku couldn’t hold his excitement in any longer and so, without thinking, he threw himself onto Iori, wrapping his arms around his neck. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I’d love to go! Please take me there!” Iori was so startled and flustered that he lost his balance and fell backwards, with Riku splayed out on top of him. He was blushing hard at their close proximity and tried to lightly push Riku away. It didn’t take many seconds for Riku to realize what he had done, so he let go of the other and quickly sat up. His face was so red it matched his hair, which seemed to have made Iori laugh. “I’m so sorry, just forget that happened?” He asked. 

Iori smiled, glad that despite the circumstances, he had still managed to make this girl who had been so sad and angry slightly happier. “It’s fine. But, uh, do you think that you could get off me now?” He asked. Riku looked down, and sure enough, he was still sitting on Iori’s lap. Embarrassed, he wasted no time in getting off him. Despite the rocky start to their relationship, the two were gradually growing closer. And so, the day came to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is that, I enjoyed that Iori and Riku's interactions aren't only super angsty right now, and I'm excited for you guys to see what comes next, it was also fun to write Riku and Mitsuki's interaction! Anyway, I hope you liked this and I'll be back with the next chapter on Wednesday! Thank you all for leaving comments and kudos, they make me very happy! <3


	11. The Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku has just been getting used to his new living conditions when something goes wrong...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back with the next chapter! I'm always excited to share more of this story with you, so I'm really happy when Wednesday and Saturday come around! I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you have any questions or just wanna talk you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

A week has passed since Riku got married to Iori and started living in the Izumi family’s mansion, and for each passing day he got more and more accustomed to it. There were still a lot of times when he felt uncomfortable, out of place, or straight out miserable. But there were nice moments too. Like when he got some alone time and could spend it in the Izumi family’s library, or when he got to taste their cooking, especially Mitsuki’s, or when he found a new place to explore, or when he had received a letter from his brother the day before. It wasn’t easy living a lie, but it was bearable, more so than Riku had initially thought.

He had also gotten to know the Izumi family more over the past week. Mister Izumi was a man of few words, he would usually let his wife do most of the talking, but Riku could tell he was a very thoughtful man. He also had a great sense of humor, which would make itself known at the weirdest of moments. Madame Izumi seemed a bit intimidating at first, she was stubborn and brave, she also always made sure to make her own opinion known. However, she was also undeniably a very kind woman, especially when it came to those she cared about. Mitsuki was perhaps the family member that Riku found the easiest to get along with, he was friendly and talkative, he was also caring and devoted to what he did. Riku felt like there was always something to talk about or to do with him. 

Then there was Iori. As the week had progressed Riku had gotten to see quite a lot of sides to Iori. Most of the time he seemed calm and calculating, and sometimes this made him appear borderline cold towards others. He was very smart, but not the arrogant kind, he didn’t boast about it or belittled those around him who weren’t able to keep up with his train of thought. He was talented, very much so, and he could do most things almost perfectly. However, somehow Riku felt like he was holding back, like he didn’t show or say what he actually felt. Iori was kind and caring, Riku had seen this, however, a lot of people obviously hadn’t, based on the way they reacted when interacting with him, they almost seemed scared. Riku had spent a lot of time around Iori in order to get to know him better, but in the end, he hadn’t been able to figure him out, not completely. It felt like there were two or three different versions of him and Riku couldn’t figure out which one was his true self, there was simply too much to see. 

Another thing that crossed Riku’s mind a lot was that he still hadn’t decided what his own opinion on Iori was. He didn’t dislike him, rather it was closer to the opposite, once they got over the initial shock of being thrust into an intimate relationship so soon, he actually felt quite comfortable around him. Iori wasn’t a bad guy, and Riku supposed he was glad that Iori was the one he had been forced to marry, but he just couldn’t figure out what their actual relationship was, nor what he wanted it to be. In the public eye, they were husband and wife, but when it was just the two of them, it really didn’t feel like that at all. They weren’t exactly friends, but they weren’t on bad terms either. 

Riku sighed. Everything had gotten so complicated lately, all his thoughts were a mess. Maybe it was due to all of the new impressions he had gotten lately, new people, new home, new environment, new daily routines. There was constantly something to do, something to research. He was just getting so tired. He was also a bit worried about the situation in Myronia. In his letter, Tenn had basically told him that everyone was getting more and more on edge for each passing day since they still had yet to advance in their investigation. In the meantime, there had been some more disturbing happenings throughout the kingdom. A priest had been murdered, a warehouse filled with medicine had been burned down and an important nobleman had disappeared without a trace. 

Everything was an even bigger mess than ever and Riku wasn’t sure if there was anything he could do about it. He looked out the window, only to see that the moon was already high up in the sky. It must be pretty late. After having eaten dinner with the rest of the Izumi family, Riku had excused himself and gone to the library since there was no more work to be done, no obligations that evening. However, his thoughts had drifted, and he had ended up staying far later than he was supposed to. 

He stood up and let out a yawn before putting the book he had been trying to read back onto the shelf from where he took it. He then left the library and started heading back to his and Iori’s shared bedroom. 

As he opened the door to the bedroom, he was shocked to see Iori standing right there in front of the door, as if he was just about to head out. “Oh, there you are.” He said, and Riku frowned at his tone. “Yeah, sorry, forgot the time.” He answered and walked past his husband into the bathroom in order to get changed. If there was one thing he still hadn’t gotten used to, it was sleeping. Since he and Iori was sharing a bed there was no way Riku could sleep without his disguise on, and while he had gotten used to most of it, wearing a wig while sleeping was extremely uncomfortable. He found that every moment he got to spend without it on felt like a blessing. He could see now why Tsumugi had suggested that he stop cutting his hair, it would be harder to fit it all under the wig for a while, but once it got long enough, he could stop wearing that stupid wig all together and just walk around with his actual hair. 

Sighing, Riku walked out of the bathroom, back into the bedroom, and crawled into the bed. He was tired and wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep right now, but somehow, he couldn’t. He failed to find a comfortable position and kept tossing and turning. After a while, Iori, who had joined him a few minutes later, asked if something was wrong. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?” 

Riku turned to look at him. “No, it’s fine. I’m just a bit restless, you should just go to sleep.” He said, not really wanting to talk to him right now. Riku still hadn’t told Iori about the letter he received from Tenn with the news about how things were in Myronia. While nothing mayor had happened, that didn’t mean that it was nothing. Part of him wanted to tell Iori, but he also thought this was something he should keep to himself. Anyway, there was no use trying to think too hard about that now, he should really try to go to sleep already, or else the next day would be even harder to get through. 

After a while, Riku did manage fall asleep. However, it was a restless sleep. Ever since he had arrived in Pandragora, his health had been quite good, all things considered. He had really expected his condition to be way worse considering the circumstances, but he had still to have a real attack ever since their arrival. At least in front of any members of the family. So, when he had felt that familiar uncomfortable feeling in his chest while falling asleep, as well as the fact that he was sort of out of breath despite only laying down, he really should have told someone he wasn’t feeling well. But, being as stubborn as he was, he convinced himself that it would all go away after getting some much-needed sleep. He was, of course, wrong. 

Later that night, Iori woke up to heavy breathing and sobbing on the other side of the bed. At first, he assumed Riku was having a nightmare, so he tried to wake her up. However, after taking a closer look, he found that she seemed to be in a lot of pain, and her breathing was extremely weak and uneven. “Riku? What’s wrong?” No reply. Iori panicked and shook her shoulders, trying desperately to wake her up. Riku started coughing, and each time she did, her face scrunched up in pain. It made Iori kind of scared. 

He stood up and opened the door, deciding that since he had no idea what to do, he should probably ask someone for help. “Hello! Is somebody there?! We need help in here! I need a doctor!” He saw a light in the other end of the corridor, and it was approaching him fast. As it got closer, he could see that it was Takanashi Tsumugi holding a candle, she looked startled. “What’s wrong?” She asked. 

Iori panted. “I-it’s Riku, I don’t know what’s wrong with her.” Tsumugi nodded and headed into the bedroom. Since Iori hadn’t been holding back at all when yelling for help, quite a few people had heard him calling and had come to see what was wrong, including his mother, father and brother. 

“Riku-san!” Tsumugi called out as she checked what was wrong. When she saw what the situation was, she immediately got to work. Since she had been working for the Nanase family for many years, despite being so young, she was used to Riku’s attacks and thus knew exactly what to do. 

The Izumi family stood a little bit to the side, watching the events unfold. They did not want to be in the way but still wanted to be able to help if they needed to. They were all worried and a little bit scared as to what was going on, nothing had seemed wrong with Riku earlier that day, after all. To just suddenly get an attack like that in the middle of the night was something completely new to all of them. Iori looked at the scene that was unfolding before him, worry had settled itself into his heart and he cursed himself for not being able to be of more help than he had been. 

A few minutes later, Tsumugi had managed to get Riku to calm down and go back to sleep. She ushered the other people in the room out into the hallway and then followed herself, leaving the door ajar in case something were to happen while they were out there. “What happened? Is she going to be okay?” It was Iori who spoke up, his tone laced with worry. Tsumugi smiled and nodded. “She’ll be just fine, you don’t have worry. It’s not that unusual for her to get attacks like that in the middle of the night, it comes with her condition. It can be a bit scary if it’s your first time experiencing it, but once you know how to calm her down, it usually won’t be any problems.” She said. The Izumi family looked taken aback after hearing her explanation. 

“Her condition? I don’t understand, is she sick?” It was Madame Izumi who asked this, turning to Tsumugi. The girl in question just looked at her confused. “Wait, are you telling me you weren’t informed of Riku-san’s health?” The family members all looked at her in shock, then at each other, none of them were really sure how to comprehend the situation at hand. In the end, it was Iori who spoke. “We were not aware there was anything wrong with her health, is there something we should be worried about?” He asked. 

Tsumugi smiled seeing his concern, as well as that of his family. She seemed at ease knowing that they cared for her master’s health. “Riku-san was born with a quite poor health. Ever since she was a young child, she’s been dealing with a respiratory illness that has kept her from experiencing what normal children would. She was not allowed to partake in physical activity, she couldn’t be around animals, once it got cold she wasn’t allowed outside, and so on. It’s her bronchial tubes, they’ve always been weak so she’s been sensitive to things like dust, fur, the cold, air pressure, and even stressful situations can cause her to have an attack. It’s been getting better as she’s grown older, but she will never be able to fully get rid of it. However, as long as she takes care of herself properly there shouldn’t be too much to worry about.” Tsumugi calmly explained to the Izumi family. 

Iori and the others listened intently, but seeing as they still looked quite confused, Tsumugi figured maybe she should make it a bit easier. “Basically, she has really bad asthma, and has had it ever since she was a baby. She’ll be fine, but attacks like the one she had tonight are actually not that rare.” Finally understanding the situation, Iori grabbed ahold of Tsumugi’s shoulders. “Why didn’t you let us know something so important? What if something really bad had happened?” He asked her bewildered. 

“Th-that’s… I was certain that Madame or Mister Nanase had already alerted you of her situation, so I simply assumed you already knew. If I had known you weren’t aware of it, I would have told you immediately.” She said while looking sternly at Iori. She was glad he seemed concerned, but she really wasn’t too happy with being grabbed out of the blue, however, she could obviously not voice those concerns. 

Iori sighed, nodded and let go, giving the servant girl an apologetic look. “Okay, is there anything we can do to help? Tonight, or in the long run, it doesn’t matter, just let me know how I can help her.” He said, or more like demanded. Tsumugi nodded. “For tonight, I think maybe you should just give her some space, I’ll stay by her side, just in case, and if you’d be so kind maybe you could spend the night in another room? Or at least in another bed. In the future, make sure to keep the house clean and warm, keep animals out and try not to cause too many stressful situations.” She said. 

Iori sighed and nodded. After some more questions and explanations they all went their separate ways. Iori went back into the room to get some stuff before heading over to his old bedroom. Before he left, however, he went over to the bed and looked at Riku. She looked so peaceful once she had calmed down. Not really thinking about it, he reached out and moved a piece of her hair out of her face. Realizing that he wasn’t alone, his face flushed red and he quickly excused himself. However, on his way to his old room, Iori made a mental note to do some research on Riku’s condition the following day, for future references.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At least one of Riku's secrets are now out in the open? Are you excited for the next part? I sure am! Also, I know nearly nothing about asthma and how you deal with it, so if I wrote something that's incorrect or missed out on something, I'm sorry. I'm really bad when it comes to that kind of stuff...  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll be back with the next one on Saturday, as usual. See you then! ^^  
> As always, your comments and kudos make me super happy, so thank you so much for leaving those! <3<3<3


	12. Revelations Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku wakes up the morning after his attack, still feeling a bit out of it. But something seems to be different this particular morning?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! I'm super hyped for this chapter, I also think it's the longest one I've written so far! (Maybe, I'm not sure) Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this chapter!  
> As usual, if you wanna reach me somewhere else, you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

When Riku woke up the next morning he felt a bit sluggish and had trouble with grasping his surroundings. He was in his bedroom, but Iori was nowhere to be found, which was to be expected when he thought about it, since the sun was already high up in the sky, meaning it must almost be noon already. Something that was unexpected though, was to find Tsumugi asleep in one of the armchairs across the room. Riku couldn’t quite recall the events of last night but an uncomfortable feeling settled itself into his chest.

Riku stood up and went to wake up Tsumugi, however, he realized that something was not as it should be. He looked down on himself and then rushed into the bathroom, observing his own reflection. Sure enough, he wasn’t wearing his disguise at the moment. Since only Tsumugi was in the room for the time being it was fine, but since Riku couldn’t recall changing out of the get-up he got slightly worried. What if he had been found out? 

Just as he thought this, he heard the door to the bedroom open. “Riku?” It was Iori calling out, since Riku wasn’t in bed right now he must have wondered where he had gone. Having thought the coast was clear, Riku had left the bathroom door open. “Oh god.” He said, as he ran to the door and hastily closed it, startling Iori. 

“Riku? Are you in there? Is everything alright?” He asked, worried that Riku was having trouble breathing again, just like last night. Riku was at a loss, he needed Iori to leave right now, he didn’t have any clothes in the bathroom, and if he walked out looking like he did right now his secret would definitely be exposed. He heard quiet voices from the other side of the door. Tsumugi must have woken up, or maybe Iori had woken her up. Anyway, he could hear the girl excuse herself and then he was certain that one of them left the room, based on their conversation it must have been Tsumugi. Riku cursed his luck. 

Once again, Iori called out. “Riku? Please just let me know if you’re okay.” Riku sighed, he had to answer him sooner or later, so without opening the door, he did just that. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just a bit startled is all. I was just getting ready and was so careless I left the door open, since the only other person in the room was Tsumugi.” It wasn’t completely a lie, he hadn’t been getting ready, but he did leave the door open since it was just him and Tsumugi. 

It was silent for a little while, Riku listened closely, hoping that Iori would be satisfied by that and then leave the room. Turns out he was not so lucky this morning. “Look, can you come out here? I’d like to talk to you for a bit.” Iori said through the door. Riku winced, he really needed to do something about this, but he was all out of ideas. “Uhm, couldn’t we just talk through the door?” He asked, praying to the gods that Iori would get the gist, say what he needed and then leave him alone. 

Riku could vaguely hear what he believed to be the sound of Iori sighing in the other room. “I don’t know, I mean, of course I don’t want to force you, but I just think this is something that would be easier to talk about face to face. Please?” He said and Riku started to feel really bad about the current situation. On one hand, Iori would definitely find out that he was a boy if he walked out right now, considering the fact that Riku had no way of disguising himself as all he needed was still inside of his closet that was in the room Iori currently occupied. However, if Iori was being this stubborn about it, it was probably something pretty big. 

That was when it hit him, what if they had already figured him out? What if that was what Iori wanted to talk about? From what Riku could recall, as well as based on his current state and that of his room that morning, Riku figured he had probably suffered an attack last night. What if the Izumi family had tried to help and found out his secret while doing so? When he woke up he wasn’t wearing what he had been wearing to bed, so the question is, who had helped him change? He had just assumed it was Tsumugi since she was in the room, but what if it wasn’t? If so, if they really knew about it all, then wasn’t hiding in the bathroom kind of pointless? 

Then again, if they hadn’t already figured it out, wouldn’t he be giving it away if he just assumed that they already knew? Since he wasn’t sure exactly what Iori wanted to talk about he shouldn’t take any risks. “Uhm, could you just give me a minute?” He said, he had now switched to the strategy of buying himself some time rather than changing Iori’s mind. “Sure, go ahead.” He heard Iori reply from the other side of the door, Riku then got to work, looking around the bathroom while trying to find something he could use. 

He did have his make-up in there, but not his wig, that was in the closet with his clothes. He supposed he could pretend he had been taking a bath, wrap his head in a towel and simply put on one of the bathrobes that hung on the wall. They were unisex after all. Now that he thought about it, that would probably be the best course of action if he didn’t want to be exposed. And so, he quickly got to work. He doused his hair in water and wrapped it in a towel, making sure that as little of it was visible as possible. He then put on one of the robes, wrapping it tightly around his body before realizing that his chest currently looked a lot flatter than what Iori must be used to. He sighed and grabbed some smaller towels from the rack, he then stuffed them inside of the robe. It didn’t look very good, but it would have to do. He then picked up the make-up, making his cheeks look slightly flushed (from the warm bath) as well as adding a few other details to make himself look more feminine. 

Looking in the mirror he was quite proud of what he had accomplished with the few objects he had access to. He didn’t look as convincing as he normally did, but it was better than nothing. He sighed and begrudgingly opened the door. He turned to see Iori sitting in one of the two armchairs along the wall, and as soon as Riku had entered, Iori looked up to meet his eyes. 

“Sorry, I was taking a bath.” Riku said, his heart was beating loud in his chest and he hoped that Iori wouldn’t see through him. “It’s fine.” Iori said and averted his gaze, most probably out of courtesy since Riku was only dressed in some simple robes. Riku sat down in the armchair that wasn’t occupied and turned to Iori. “So, what did you want to talk about?” He asked nervously. 

Even after Riku had asked, Iori remained silent for a while, which was torturous for Riku. With every second that passed his anxiety grew. Then, finally, after about a minute of silence, Iori spoke. “Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you hide it? Wouldn’t it have been a lot easier if we just knew about it from the start?” Iori asked, his voice sounded hurt and tired. Riku gulped, he really had been found out, hadn’t he? Panic set in and his breathing quickened, it was all over, he had messed up big time. 

However, as Iori saw Riku’s condition worsen he walked over to the other’s side. Riku felt a hand on his arm and heard Iori telling him to calm down. He was confused. Why wasn’t Iori yelling at him to get out? Why was he still being so nice to him? Why was all of this happening? After a while, he did calm down, but he was still feeling scared. “I-I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to lie! I-it’s just that, you know, this all really needed to happen, and… I know it was wrong of me, b-but it really wasn’t my idea! I’m so sorry!” Riku pleaded, hoping that maybe, just maybe, if he could explain the situation properly, they wouldn’t completely hate him. 

Iori was a bit taken aback by Riku’s outburst at first. Sure, maybe Iori could have phrased it in a better way, but was there really a need to get that hysterical? What had the Nanase family been thinking? That the Izumis wouldn’t have gone through with the marriage if the bride’s health wasn’t top-notch? It didn’t seem like Riku had deliberately tried to lie about it, she just hadn’t mentioned it. It made Iori a bit suspicious, was there something else Riku had been hiding? He remained silent and let Riku keep talking, thinking that maybe he would get a better explanation if he did. 

Iori was silent, which unnerved Riku. He was really angry with him, wasn’t he? Riku wanted to cry, this was the absolute worst. “I knew it was a b-bad idea from the start! I even told them that we sh-shouldn’t do it, but of course they wouldn’t listen to someone like m-me! Please, I really didn’t mean to deceive you!” Riku was starting to get desperate, what if they reported this? Would he get sent to prison? Would they just get rid of him? Should he maybe try to contact Tenn? Would his brother even be able to do something in time? 

Now Iori was really confused, whatever Riku was talking about, Iori was pretty sure he had been misunderstood. It sounded like Riku was talking about hiding something much bigger than just that she suffered from asthma. Deciding that it would probably be best to calm her down before asking further questions, Iori did just that. “Hey, hey! Calm down, okay? It’s not that big of a deal. You just scared us a bit, that’s all. If you had just told us you had asthma from the start, we could have helped you out more.” He said. 

Riku froze. Asthma? Sure, Riku had an attack yesterday, but he had already told them about his condition, hadn’t he? Was there really a need for them to be so surprised? Thinking back on it, Riku realized that he might have forgotten to mention his condition. Oh shit. Had Iori been talking about that all along? Riku might have just gotten himself into even deeper waters. “R-right, but you see, wouldn’t you have felt embarrassed? That your wife is so weak? Anyway, it’s gotten a lot better than since I was a child, so there really wasn’t that much to talk about…” He said, hoping Iori would accept that and just forget about his outburst earlier. But of course Riku had no such luck. 

“Of course I wouldn’t be embarrassed, do I really come off as such a shallow person to you?” Iori asked, and Riku could hear in his voice that he had been hurt by his words. Riku felt bad, he hadn’t wanted to make Iori feel bad at all. “No! Of course not! I didn’t mean it like that! I just… I mean…” Riku wasn’t exactly sure how to continue, so instead he just apologized. “I’m sorry for hiding it, I just forgot to mention it, I guess. Also, I’m sorry for what I said before, you’re really not that shallow of a person.” 

Iori sighed, then smiled slightly as he backed away and sat back down in his own armchair. “It’s fine, just, maybe tell me next time your health is acting up? I’ll try my best to help.” He said, to which Riku only nodded and smiled in appreciation. Then, Iori decided to move onto the issue he had noticed while talking to Riku. “Is there something else you aren’t telling me? I don’t mean to pry, but it sort of sounded like it was something big.” He said and looked over at Riku. 

Riku cursed internally. Why did he have to be so quick to jump to conclusions? What was he going to do now? He could keep lying and say that it had all been about his condition, however, that would kind of be contradicting as he told Iori he had just forgotten to mention it, as opposed to lying about it. He supposed he could come up with something different, and not as serious, that he had been lying about, but he really couldn’t think of anything, and he doubted Iori would just let this issue go. Would he really have to tell Iori that he wasn’t a girl? What would he think? “Riku?” He heard Iori calling for him and turned to look at his husband. 

Iori’s face was laced with worry and concern, he must know by now that Riku had lied to him about something, yet he didn’t look angry at all. He hadn’t been angry about Riku not mentioning his condition either, just concerned. This made Riku think, would Iori really get angry if he knew the truth? Maybe he wouldn’t throw him away? No, that couldn’t be the case, nobody could be so kind as to forgive their wife for lying about their own gender, it would change everything. Realizing that he probably had no choice but to tell Iori the truth, Riku brought his knees up to his chest, buried his face in his in them and started crying. 

“I’m so sorry. I really am. I didn’t mean to trick you, my parents were the ones who put me up to it, I promise, I really didn’t want to do this. It’s all my fault, I’ve ruined everything.” He said weakly as he cried. This concerned Iori and he wasn’t quite sure how to act in this situation. Whatever it was that Riku had lied about must be more serious than Iori had expected. “It’s fine, just please, take your time and tell me the truth. I won’t get angry, I promise.” He said, hoping to calm his crying wife down. 

Riku laughed and met Iori’s concerned stare. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew the truth.” He said, to which Iori simply replied; “Then tell me the truth. The whole truth, no more lies.” He looked determined and Riku couldn’t help but to shiver under that intense gaze of his. He sighed and wiped at his eyes, there really was no going back now, he would have to tell Iori everything and then live with the consequences. “I, as well as my entire family, have been lying to you all from the start, since even before we met. It was all a lie created by my parents because they were so desperate to find a stable connection to Pandragora.” Riku started and Iori listened intently as Riku explained the whole truth. 

“At the start, they actually wanted to find a wife for my brother, but no family could offer a bride, at least no family that was influential enough for my mom and dad. And so, they turned to me. Because of my condition, I’ve barely ever left my home in Myronia, and very few people even knew I existed before all of this. This is why my parents could lie about something so big when they couldn’t find a bride. Instead, they had me be the bride, even though, in reality, I’m not really qualified to be a bride at all.” Riku trailed off, dreading the next part. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and decided to just go for it. “The reason why I technically couldn’t be a bride is because I’m not a girl, I’m a man…” 

As Iori was listening to Riku’s explanation he just got more and more confused. And then, when Riku finally revealed the truth, Iori was stunned. He couldn’t find any words and simply stared at Riku. Riku was a man? Iori found it hard to believe at first, but then, somehow it all made sense. The reason Riku had been so much more against this at first. The reason Riku had seemed so uncomfortable the entire time. On their wedding night, when Riku broke down, the voice he heard was indeed not the same as the one he had listened to that day. “Wait, so you are saying that you lied about your own gender?” Iori asked. 

Riku nodded and looked down in shame. “I’m really sorry, even though I know that a normal apology won’t cut it.” Riku said, he had yet to look at Iori after the revelation had been made, scared of what he might see. However, when he heard shuffling followed by footsteps, he couldn’t help but look up in curiosity. Iori’s face was nothing like what Riku had expected, he didn’t look angry, or disappointed. Of course, he didn’t look happy either, in fact, Riku had trouble analyzing his expression. 

“Then show me.” Iori said. Riku blinked in confusion. “What?” He then questioned. “Can you show me? Who you really are, not the image your parents created for this marriage. I want to see what the actual Nanase Riku looks like, if that's even your real name.” Iori’s words shocked Riku, but he decided that he probably couldn’t do much else, other than to agree to what Iori wanted. So, he stood up and started by removing the small towels he had put in the robe to make his chest look less flat. He then removed the towel on his head, revealing his chin-length, red hair, and at last he removed the robe, letting it fall to the floor. He had been wearing underwear since before, so at least he wasn’t completely exposed, but he still felt really embarrassed, having so much skin on display. “This is me. And don’t worry, I didn’t lie about my name, I am actually named Nanase Riku, or at least I was. Remember? I’m Izumi Riku now.” 

Iori wasn’t sure what he had been expecting, but whatever it was, it had been way more drastic than the reality. In truth, Riku didn’t look all that different from before, he just had shorter hair and less curves. Iori sighed, he wasn’t really sure how to react to this situation, by all means, he should feel angry, disappointed or disgusted, but he felt none of these things. In fact, a small part of him was relieved, while the rest of him simply felt surprised as well as curious. “Why would you pretend to be a woman for something like this? Why would you risk so much?” He asked. 

Riku was a bit surprised by the fact that Iori truly didn’t seem angry with him, since he had made it this far, he supposed he might as well explain it all. “It’s not like I had much of a choice. It was either this or being thrown out onto the street, and with my health and extremely limited knowledge of how the world works, I wouldn’t have survived long if mom and dad had thrown me out. I honestly don’t think they would have cared that much, they would probably just be irritated that they had lost their best chance of establishing a proper connection to Pandragora.” Riku said while putting the bathrobe back on since he was starting to feel a little bit too exposed. 

Iori couldn’t help but pity the other, he would never have been able to endure what Riku had, it must have been both scary, humiliating and uncomfortable. He could only start to imagine what the other boy must have felt throughout it all. “That’s so horrible! Why would they do something like that to their own child?!” Now, Iori was starting to get angry, but he wasn’t angry with Riku for lying, he was angry with Mister and Madame Nanase for what they made their son endure. 

Riku just looked down onto the floor, a sad expression on his face. “Honestly, I don’t think they care about me that much, after all, I’ve always been nothing but a weak, useless embarrassment to our family. Something that could surely only sully their beloved reputation. They have always been so proud of Tenn-nii, he’s been making a name for himself, he’s even good friends with the prince! And then they got me, I’m nothing but a burden!” Riku started crying again, all the pain he had been keeping inside overflowing and he collapsed onto the ground. 

Iori was stunned, how could someone be so cruel as to make their own child go through something so horrible? Iori sat down in front of Riku and drew his shaking body closer to his, enveloping the broken boy in an embrace that lasted longer than either one had been expecting, neither boy were really ready to let go yet. 

A few minutes later, Riku had calmed down and let go of Iori, quickly apologizing for his actions. “I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have to listen to my complaints like this. I’ve lied to you this whole time, and yet you’re still being so kind.” He said. Iori let go of Riku as well, but let one of his hands linger on his upper arm. “Look, it might have been wrong of you to lie, but ultimately, I don’t think that was your fault. So, how about we make a compromise?” Iori asked. 

Riku was shocked, a compromise? Iori wasn’t going to just throw him out after learning the truth? Riku nodded carefully, he was a bit scared but somehow, he also felt at ease. “I really don’t like to force you to keep up an act that you don’t want to do, but I think we can both help each other out. You don’t really have anywhere to go, you can’t go back to your parents, and if I understood you correctly, you have nowhere else to live.” Iori paused here to get confirmation from Riku, who simply nodded. “I, just like you, didn’t want to get married in the first place. But how about we keep up this act, that way, you’ll have a place to stay and I don’t really have to worry about my parents bugging me to find a new wife. Plus, we'll keep up the connection and make our parents happy, we’ll help each other. We simply need to keep it up when others are around, you don’t have to keep pretending while it’s just you and me, you won’t even have to be in your disguise all the time. If you keep up the act around others, I promise I’ll keep your secret. We’ll be in this together.” 

Riku couldn’t believe what Iori was saying, they should keep up the act? Iori wanted them to stay married even after learning the truth? Riku felt so relieved he was about to pass out. “You would really keep my secret? And let me stay here with you? You won’t throw me away? Or lock me up somewhere, or kill me? Why? Why aren’t you angry about this? I thought for sure you would never want to see me again after I told you the truth…” Riku exclaimed. 

“Well, in the end, I don’t really dislike you. Maybe we could even be friends. So, will you stay? I won’t stop you if you’d rather go somewhere else.” Iori said, giving Riku the choice to stay or to go. Riku could feel himself tear up as he, without a warning, threw his arms around Iori’s neck and squeezed the other man tightly in his arms. “Izumi Iori, you are the best person in the entire world! I don’t deserve your forgiveness, and I could never thank you enough! I’ll stay, of course I’ll stay! Thank you so much!” Riku said as he buried his face in Iori’s neck. Iori smiled a small smile and returned the hug, rubbing comforting circles on the other’s back. He couldn’t tell what it was, but there was something about Riku that he just couldn’t get enough of, and he found that he was truly happy that the other had chosen to stay instead of leaving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, everything's out in the open!! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll be back, as usual, on Wednesday with the next! ^^ Thank you so much for leaving kudos and comments, they never fail to brighten my day! <3<3


	13. Revelations Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picking up where the last chapter left off, what will happen now that Iori knows the whole truth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am back once again! With a new chapter! (of course) I don't really have anything to say, so just enjoy the update! If you want to find me on any social media, you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

”Have you calmed down now?” Iori asked as he separated himself from Riku. Riku smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I feel much better. Thank you.” Riku said, then he stood up, brushed himself off and cleared his throat. After the initial shock of everything that had happened had worn off, the embarrassment came back full force and Riku suddenly felt extremely awkward.

“Is there anything else I need to know?” Iori then said, making Riku turn his attention back to him. Riku gave Iori a confused look. “About what?” He asked. He was still a bit out of it after having opened his heart up like he had done. “Well, about you. About all of this. Since we’ll be in this together from now on there should be no more secrets.” Iori stated and looked at Riku. “Oh…” Riku said and placed a finger on his chin, thinking about whether or not there was something more Iori should know. 

“Hmm… I don’t think there’s anything important I left out? I’ll let you know if I think of something though!” Riku said and Iori nodded, content with his answer. “And I’ll do the same.” Iori then said, making Riku smile. The redhead then remembered something that might be of importance. “By the way, would it be okay if I let Tsumugi know that you know about everything? She’s kind of in on it, after all.” Riku asked and Iori thought about it for a few seconds before answering. “Go ahead, it might cause some trouble for her otherwise.” He said at last, to which Riku simply nodded. 

It was then that Riku realized that he did, in fact, have something to tell Iori. “Wait! There is actually something that you should know about.” He said, catching Iori’s attention. The black-haired boy turned to the redhead once more to listen to what he had to say. 

“Remember how I told you Tenn-nii was going to help with the investigation of the queen’s assassination? Well, I actually received a letter from him the other day, and he has promised to keep me updated on the state of Myronia, is this something you would be interested in knowing? Because if so, I could let you know what he writes in his letters. Or letter, there’s still only one, but there will be more!” Riku said, cursing himself for starting to rant near the end, as he tended to do when he became nervous. 

Iori looked at Riku as if he was out of his mind. “Are you kidding me? Of course I’d want to know that! Why didn’t you mention it earlier?!” He asked with enthusiasm. Riku thought it was kind of funny, how things like these seemed to get Iori so excited. “Well, there wasn’t really anything big in this first one, as they just got started. However, there have been some weird incidents happening throughout Myronia since we left, but Tenn-nii doubts they’re related to the queen’s death.” Riku said, however, when he turned to look at Iori he saw that the other was staring at him intently, waiting for more information. 

Riku chuckled and asked; “Want to know what the incidents were?” with a smile on his face. Iori groaned and flicked Riku’s forehead, he then put his hands on his hips and leaned forward. “Of course, now stop beating around the bush and just tell me!” He said, clearly a bit irritated by Riku’s antics, which really only made Riku feel more satisfied. “Well, a priest in a small, remote village got murdered by some thugs on the street. Then there was a warehouse in Port Nezok that had been burned down, inside were crates with loads of medicine that was to be distributed throughout the kingdom, they still don’t know who was behind that one. And lastly, a nobleman went missing, Tenn-nii didn’t mention his name, just that he used to do business with the king in the past but stopped a couple of years ago, I don’t know why though.” 

Iori had been listening intently, taking mental notes so that he wouldn’t forget anything. “Is that all?” He then asked as Riku seemed to have finished. Riku nodded and was about to speak again when a noise could be heard throughout the room. It sounded like a beast growling, then Riku’s face turned as red as his hair and he said; “Sorry, that was my stomach, I haven’t eaten yet…” He turned away and pouted in embarrassment. 

Iori smiled before patting Riku’s shoulder and turning to leave the room, before he did, however, he spoke again. “I’ll make you something to eat, you should probably get changed first though. Come to the kitchen once you’re finished.” He said and then he left, leaving a flustered Riku alone in the room. Riku begrudgingly made his way to the closet, got everything he needed and then headed into the bathroom in order to get ready for the day ahead of him. 

Once Riku had finished getting ready he headed down to the kitchen like he had told Iori he would, however, inside was not only Iori but the entire Izumi family who all seemed quite concerned about Riku’s health. And thus, he had to explain everything about his condition again, after which they reassured him that they would make sure to do everything they could to help him. Riku was slightly overwhelmed as he felt that they really did not need to make changes around the house for his sake, in fact, it moved him how kind they were being to him. He was happy that they seemed to care, but it also made him a bit sad knowing that this family he had just met were more accepting of his condition than his own parents had ever been. 

After he had eaten, he promptly went to go look for Tsumugi, wanting to explain what had happened that morning as soon as possible. He found her in one of the hallways near the servants’ dormitory and called out to her. “Tsumugi! I need to talk to you for a bit.” He said as he approached her. She turned her head around to meet his gaze, concern splayed out on her face. However, she said nothing and simply led Riku into her own bedchamber and offered him a seat at the desk while she sat down on the side of her bed. 

“What did you want to talk about? Also, are you feeling better now? I’m sorry about leaving so abruptly this morning, but young master Iori came in and-“ She talked quickly, so much so that it was almost hard for Riku to hear what she was saying, so he decided to stop her there. “Tsumugi! It’s fine, you don’t have to apologize!” He said with a reassuring smile, making the blonde girl calm down considerable. She nodded and then stayed silent, waiting for Riku to continue. 

“So… I might have told Iori that I am actually a man this morning.” Riku said, and before he even got the slightest chance to continue, he was interrupted. “WHAT?! Wait a minute, what do we do now?! Oh no, oh no, this is bad.” And Tsumugi was panicking. Riku tried to call out to her but she wouldn’t listen. So instead he stood up, walked over to her and put his arm around her. This did manage to calm her down. 

“It’s fine, he actually took it really well, and he promised to keep it a secret from the rest of his family if I keep up the act. So, in the end, it’s all good! Thank you for worrying though, it makes me feel a lot better to know that I have you here with me.” Riku told her with a smile. Tsumugi had then asked for a more detailed explanation, which Riku gave her. The two talked for a while, but after concluding that they could trust that Iori would keep their secret and that everything was most likely under control for the time being they split up. 

After leaving Tsumugi’s room, Riku had decided to try and find Iori to see if there was anything that needed doing. To Riku’s relief, there wasn’t, so instead he headed over to the library so that he could find a new book to read. 

The rest of the day passed quickly and before he knew it, Riku was called down to dinner. One of the servants had come looking for him, and so, Riku put away the book and followed the worker downstairs into the dining hall. Every other member of the family was already gathered and as he arrived, Riku was greeted by them. He then sat down at the table and they all started eating. 

The meals, while still being a bit awkward and difficult for Riku since he had to really be in character, were also the best parts of the day. To be honest, Riku had never tasted anything better before he started living with the Izumis, even some of the foods he had disliked before tasted so much better than he had remembered they did. When it came to food and sweets, you could not find anything better than what the Izumi family had made. 

“So…” It was Mister Izumi who had spoken up all of a sudden. Everyone at the table turned to look at him expectantly, wondering what he wanted to say. “A few minor issues came up today, they’re not big, so it will be easy to resolve. However, we are going to need you to help out a bit.” He said while directing his words at his two sons. The next person to speak up was Madame Izumi. 

“Due to a sudden outbreak of an illness in Nesbury, a lot of our staff there has been unable to work for a day or two, we’ll send you, Mitsuki, over to Nesbury with three other workers until they are back on their feet. It’s not a dangerous illness that’s been spreading, but it apparently leaves the infected bedridden for one to two weeks. Be careful to take care of yourself while you’re there, and if you start feeling sluggish you should head back home immediately.” Madame Izumi explained while looking at her oldest son. 

Mitsuki nodded. “Sure, where will I be staying in the meantime?” He asked, and his mother answered immediately. “Well, we’ve arranged for you to stay with the Osaka family, they have a branch over in Nesbury and they’ll be present there for the next month or so.” She told him. Mitsuki simply smiled and assured his mother and father that he would prepare for departure that very same evening. 

Then, the pair turned to their youngest son, Iori, instead. They probably had some sort of work for him too, so Riku perked up and decided to listen carefully to what came next. “Iori, we’re going to need you to go to the capital, to Northmeir. The king and queen will be hosting a gala next week, and they asked our family to be responsible for food, drinks and dessert, as usual. However, me and your mother will be very busy next week and can’t go, we already have a big number of employees in the capital so it’s no problem to send in the staff they’ve asked for, but we’d like you to go representing the main family. You'll be staying in our main office in the city, in one of the spare bedrooms there, and you’d have to stay for about a week, helping with preparations, making sure the actual gala goes as it should as well as checking so that everything gets back to normal afterwards. You’ve done this before, so I assume there won’t be a problem with this?” Mister Izumi said. 

Iori looked quite excited as he responded that of course he would do it. This got Riku to wonder, what was he going to do? Was he supposed to go with Iori, or was he supposed to stay here, in the Izumi mansion? As he thought about it, he would actually love to go to the capital, he could also learn more about how Iori and his family worked for future purposes, so wouldn’t it be good if he went along? He decided that it would probably be best to simply ask them. “Uhm, excuse me? Would it be better for me to stay here while Iori’s gone, or could I accompany him?” Riku asked. 

Once Riku had spoken up, the rest of the family promptly turned to look at him. The one who answered him ended up being Madame Izumi. “Well, do you want to go? I was originally thinking I could use this coming week to teach you more about our work myself, but if you’d rather go with Iori I don’t see why not?” She said. Riku got excited at that. “I would love to go! Ah, of course I wouldn’t mind staying here either, it’s just that I would love to see the capital myself, and also, I think I could learn a lot from observing what Iori does while he’s there.” Riku answered. 

Madame Izumi looked at her husband who simply nodded and answered; “As long as Iori is fine with you tagging along, I don’t have anything against it. It could also be good for you to go there, as we do the majority of our business either here in Lawlee or in Northmeir. Iori, teach her the ropes while you’re there, will you?” As he finished, he turned to his son. Iori just smiled. “Of course, when do we leave?” He asked. 

“Tomorrow.” Answered Madame Izumi. Shortly after, the dinner ended and everyone went their separate ways. Iori and Riku headed up to their own room in order to start packing and preparing for their departure the following day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, nothing much happened this chapter but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. ^^ I'll be back on Saturday again, so stay tuned! Thank you for leaving kudos and comments, they really mean a lot to me! <3<3<3


	14. Journey to the Capital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori and Riku are leaving the Izumi Mansion and Lawlee in order to go to the capital of Pandragora, Northmeir. What will happen on the way there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Saturday, so I am back! I'm actually updating this a bit earlier than I usually do, it's morning where I live and I just finished getting ready, normally, I update in the afternoon. I have a friend that's coming over today, so I wouldn't be able to update this until really late tonight if I didn't do it now, that's why this chapter is a bit earlier than the others. ^^  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this new chapter and if you want to ask me something or just talk to me somewhere that's not in the comments, you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

The next morning arrived swiftly. Once Riku and Iori woke up, they had immediately made sure to finish the last of the preparations for their journey. Mitsuki had already left when the two had made their way downstairs for breakfast, and Riku could see the disappointment in Iori’s eyes. Riku guessed he would have wanted to say goodbye to his brother before he left. After all, Riku knew what it was like to be separated from one’s older brother all too well. Although, he supposed their circumstances were a bit different.

There really wasn’t all that much to do for now, so there wasn’t any need to stress either, however, Iori wanted to reach Northmeir before the sun had set that same evening. Their journey would take four to five hours, depending on if they wanted to make any stops along the way, thus, they really didn’t have to hurry, especially not since they had finished almost all of the preparations the day before. Seems Iori didn't get that note. 

Riku was excited to say the least. Ever since he had told Iori the truth yesterday he had managed to relax and felt like he could actually do this. He had known from the start that Iori would be the hardest to keep in the dark about the entire situation, and now the he knew and had accepted it, Riku felt like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. The mood between the two of them had also improved significantly since the revelation had been made, and it almost felt like they were close friends already. Because of all this, Riku felt quite calm about going on a trip with Iori, even if it was mostly because of work. 

Ever since he was a child, Riku had heard stories about Northmeir, it was said to be the most beautiful and impressive place in all of Pandragora, it’s streets filled with music, good food and beautiful sights. The architectural structure of the city rivaled even that of Myronian cities, which was saying a lot since Myronia was famous for its many great architects. Some had even speculated that Northmeir was in fact designed by Myronians. Pandragora, however, denied this claim. Of course, Riku had no way of knowing if any of this was true or not as he had never seen the city for himself, he had merely heard and read stories about it. 

On the journey from his own home in Laball to the Izumis’ mansion in Lawlee, Riku had been distracted by the dread he had been feeling because of the oncoming wedding, and thus wasn’t able to truly appreciate Pandragora’s beauty. He was hoping to really take his time and do that this time around. 

Iori and Riku were the only ones going on the trip from Lawlee, not counting the man who would be driving the carriage. This meant that Tsumugi would stay behind, which Riku had originally been opposed to. However, he supposed that while he could make the most out of this learning experience by going on the trip, Tsumugi would make the most out of it by staying behind. Riku was sad to leave her in Lawlee, he felt a bit lonely doing so, but at the same time he felt like he would be fine. 

Soon, everything was ready and Iori and Riku were saying their goodbyes to Mister and Madame Izumi, as well as to Tsumugi and the rest of the servants. Iori’s parents wished them a safe journey and then the two boys entered the carriage and left Lawlee and the Izumi mansion behind. 

For approximately the first hour, the two simply sat there, completely quiet, while doing their own things. Iori was going through the notes for the gala that his father had given to him and Riku was taking his time watching the scenery pass by outside the of window. Riku soon noticed that it was getting a bit cold, he started shivering and wrapped his arms around himself in order to try and warm himself up a bit. Iori noticed this and put away his papers so that he could check up on the other. “Are you okay?” He asked, sounding concerned. 

Riku turned around abruptly and looked at Iori, not having expected him to address him. “Oh, yeah, it’s just getting a bit cold I suppose.” He said. Iori frowned. “You did remember to bring a jacket, right? It’s only going to get colder from here on out. The entire northern part of Pandragora is basically a glacier, I already told you that.” He said. 

Riku pouted and looked at Iori. “Of course I remembered, but I don’t have any warmer clothes inside the carriage, they’re all in the bags…” He said while looking away, feeling a bit stupid for having forgotten to take his jacket out of the bag. Iori sighed. “Well, you can take my jacket if you want, at least until we can stop along the way.” He said, figuring it was more important for Riku to keep warm than himself. 

Riku, once again, found himself baffled by Iori’s kindness. Seriously, how had Riku managed to find someone so helpful and considerate? A blush spread out across Riku’s cheeks and he looked away. “It’s fine, besides, don’t you need it? You’ll get cold as well.” He said, trying to brush Iori off without sounding rude. 

Iori sighed again, he felt like he was doing that quite a lot lately. He had found out that Riku could be stubborn when he really wanted to be, however, now really wasn’t the time. “No, you take it. You said your condition gets worse in the cold, right? Then isn’t it logical that you should be the one to wear the jacket until we stop? And besides, I’ve been to Northmeir a lot, I’m already kind of used to the cold weather. You told me earlier that you’ve never been to Pandragora before this, so I doubt you’ve ever experienced this kind of weather before.” Iori said in order to try and convince Riku to just accept his offer already. 

Riku wasn’t sure what to say next, he wanted to refuse again, not because he didn’t want Iori’s jacket, but because he didn’t want Iori to go out of his way for him. Again. However, Riku couldn’t think of any excuse not to take the jacket, so instead he thanked Iori and put it on. He immediately felt warmer and relaxed against the back of his seat. 

Watching Riku relax now that he wasn’t freezing anymore made Iori calm down as well, he had done some research on Riku’s condition and thus knew that being exposed to the cold for too long wasn’t good for him. Which is why Iori had been very persistent that Riku bring sufficient warm clothes for their journey, as Northmeir, while not being that much further north, was much colder than Lawlee. 

Soon Riku had resumed his previous activity of watching the scenery outside of the window. Iori had already read through all the notes and had instead started watching Riku intently. He was wearing his disguise, even though it was just the two of them in the carriage, it was still necessary considering that they were going to be greeted by people working for the family once they arrived. Iori wasn’t sure what it was, but there was certainly something about the other that had caught his attention. Riku was undeniably a very pretty person, and also very cute, Iori had always thought so and this particular impression hadn’t changed since finding out Riku was a man. It wasn’t that Riku was pretty or cute when dressed up as a girl, Iori had found that this still applied to the other while he wasn’t all dolled up. 

Iori really couldn’t tell exactly what it was that had caught his interest, but there was definitely something there. Observing as the other looked at their surroundings with a gleam in his eyes and a bright smile on his face made Iori smile too, although only slightly. “Are you enjoying yourself?” He asked, a bit curious as to what Riku had found so fascinating about the landscape outside. 

Riku turned around at the sound of Iori’s voice. He smiled at the other and answered him. “Yep! Pandragora is really beautiful, you know? It’s very different from where I lived. There were mostly fields and plains, not that many big forests. I mean, obviously Myronia had forests, but they were all in the north and I lived in the southernmost parts, so I never really saw them…” He trailed off towards the end, which made Iori wonder what he was thinking about. 

“Did you never visit the forests in the north?” Iori asked, wanting to know more about the other. Riku just gave the other a sad smile. “I though I told you… Because of my condition I never really left home, or more like I wasn’t really allowed to leave my home. I was allowed to go into the city of Laball if the weather was good and I had supervision, but before all of this I’d never gone further away from home. It’s all new to me.” Riku explained. 

Iori had known that Riku had been restricted as a child because of his health, but he hadn’t realized just how much. Was this why Riku was so excited for this trip? Because he had barely ever been away from home? Before Iori could ask anything else, the redhead started talking again. “You know, ever since I was a child, I’ve always wanted to explore the world. I wanted to see the great cities, I wanted to bathe in Lake Blair, I wanted to sail across the sea and see what this country was like. But then, when I actually got to do what I’d dreamt about for so long, it was because of all of this, and I wasn’t really able to enjoy it. I was just scared and worried about what was going to happen next the entire time, and I felt like it was suffocating me.” He explained. 

Listening to Riku talk made Iori’s chest ache. He felt bad for the other, but he wasn’t sure how he could make it any better. Iori had been upset and shaken about the whole arrangement as well, but what he felt was probably nowhere near what Riku had been forced to endure. At least Iori was still at home, he still had his family and friends around him, he hadn’t been forced to pretend to be something he wasn’t while leaving everything he knew and cherished behind. “I'm Sorry.” Iori perked up when he heard Riku apologizing, why had he done that? “Why are you apologizing? You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” Iori said, not sure what else to do in this situation. 

“I’m just complaining all the time, you must think it’s annoying.” Riku said quietly while looking down at his own feet. Iori sighed and extended a hand, letting it rest on Riku’s shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly. “It’s really fine, after all you’ve had to do you have the right to complain. I’ll be here to hear you out, so just let me know what you’re thinking. This whole thing between us will be a lot simpler if we’re honest with each other.” He said while trying his best to speak calmly. 

Riku was, once again, overwhelmed by how much Iori seemed to care. “Then what about you? You tell me that it’s understandable and that it’s okay for me to vent about it, but what about you? Don’t you also have issues that you deal with? Are you planning on talking to me about those, or are you just going to keep them to yourself?” Riku asked. 

Iori was taken aback, he never expected Riku to throw it all back in his face. He looked away, a slightly sad smile displayed on his face. “Well, even if I’m hurting, I can’t help but think that you must be hurting more… Besides, I can’t help but feel that whatever I’m dealing with seems so trivial whenever I listen to you, it’s really nothing you need to worry about.” Iori said, which resulted in Riku giving him a deadpan look. “Are you serious? Do you realize how contradictory that is? You tell me that we need to be honest with each other, and yet you don’t tell me anything. That’s just stupid! I thought you were supposed to be smart, turns out that was wrong, huh?” Riku said with a smug look on his face towards the end. 

Iori blushed. “T-that’s! You don’t need to put it like that! Also, that was rude.” He said and turned away with a pout which made Riku laugh. “Look, I’m glad you’re worrying about me, really, I am. But it’s exactly like you said, it will be easier if we’re BOTH honest with each other. It won't work if only one of us makes an effort to be honest. Don’t think that you’ll be adding any more burdens or worries onto my plate, I know I haven’t really shown this, but I’m really not as weak as people make me out to be, so have a little more faith in me, will you?” He said. 

Hearing this made Iori feel kind of stupid. Of course he knew Riku wasn’t weak, despite his health, he had been through a lot, especially these last couple of weeks, and he had still made it through. Iori sighed and agreed, and after that it was silent again. But not the comfortable silence from before, this felt more forced, like there were still things left unsaid. Both boys could feel it, and both of them wanted to do something about it. 

It was then that Riku decided that he'd had enough, so instead of staying quiet for any longer, he decided that just chatting about nothing in particular would be better than what was currently going on between them. He decided that maybe he could go back to what they were talking about before. “So, even though I’ve never really traveled, you have, right? Have you ever been to Myronia before?” Riku asked. 

Iori was thankful for the distraction and didn’t waste any time in answering the question. “Only once, and I barely remember it, I was only five years old at the time. We went to Talin for the opening of our very first branch in Myronia, however, I haven’t gone back since.” He said. Riku nodded and continued. “Maybe we can go back sometime, you and me? We could visit my home and you could show me your branch in the capital? I’ve never been to Talin, so I’d love to go!” He said. And just like that they continued to talk for the rest of the ride. It all seemed to go by too fast and before they knew it, they could see the capital city of Northmeir in the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that! Next time, they'll arrive in the capital, I hope you're excited for that! I might be a little late with my next update, but I promise I'll have it out on Wednesday (in Sweden time at least) as I have an examination in school all that day and won't be back home until pretty late, and that time I won't be able to post in the morning like I am doing today. I hope you guys understand. ^^  
> With that said, I hope you liked this chapter and that you're looking forward to the next! Thank you so much for reading, as well as leaving Kudos and comments, they make me very happy! <3<3


	15. Northmeir

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku and Iori finally arrive in Northmeir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Once again, I'm sorry for being late, but I made it! As I upload this it is currently 23:57 here in Sweden so I made it, I updated on Wednesday like I said I would! ^^ Anyway, I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter and the next one will be up, as usual, on Saturday.  
> If you want to ask me something or just talk you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

The carriage came to a halt outside of what Riku assumed to be the Izumi family’s main branch in the capital. There were two different shops on the ground floor, one was a bakery while the other one was a restaurant. It was a three-story building that looked kind of old, yet not torn down in the least. Iori exited and held out his hand for Riku to take, which he did. Once the two of them were outside, they were greeted by an old man. Iori had told Riku about him, his name was Tanaka and he was the one in charge of all their activity throughout Northmeir and the surrounding areas unless there was a member of the main family present. Meaning the only people that had more authority than him when it came to the company was Iori, Mitsuki, as well as Mister and Madame Izumi.

“Ah, Iori! It’s been a while! The journey here went well I presume?” He said cheerfully while patting Iori’s shoulder, in return, Iori smiled at the older man. “Of course, there were no troubles at all, other than it being a bit colder than I had anticipated. But more importantly, there is someone I want to introduce you to.” Iori said. This was actually Riku’s first time meeting Tanaka, as he had been one of the few that were unable to attend the wedding. 

Tanaka perked up and looked behind Iori to where Riku was standing. Feeling his gaze on him, Riku walked forward to stand beside Iori while also making sure to smile politely at the man in front of him, as he was someone very important to the Izumi family. Iori spoke up. “This is Izumi Riku, my wife. Since you were sadly unable to attend the ceremony, you two haven’t met yet.” Riku smiled brighter and held out his right hand for Tanaka to shake. “I’m Izumi Riku, it’s a pleasure to meet you Mister Tanaka.” He said politely. 

The older man seemed to be observing Riku as he looked him over, from head to toe. However, he soon broke out into a big smile, grabbed Riku’s hand and shook it excitedly while he laughed. “Haha, so this is the rumored wife of the young master! It certainly is a pleasure to meet you Miss. Hey Iori, you got really lucky, eh? Not many women are as pretty as this one, my own wife certainly isn’t!” He exclaimed happily. Riku’s face flushed a bright red and he quickly took his own hand out of the older man’s grip. 

Iori frowned. “Don’t be disrespectful, if she was here, your wife would have slapped you so hard you’d fall over. And anyway, is that really something you should be saying to someone who’s already married?” He said. Tanaka just laughed and said; “Haha, sorry, sorry. You are quiet right when it comes to my wife, however, you never pass up an opportunity to let a beautiful woman know that she’s beautiful!” He finished with a wink in Riku’s direction which only made him more flustered. 

Iori simply sighed at Tanaka’s antics and grabbed onto Riku’s arm. “Well, I’ll be taking Riku on a walk through the town, this is her first time in Northmeir and we both would like to move our legs a bit after the long trip, I believe you understand. Can you make sure our luggage gets moved to our room before we return?” Iori said, already feeling a bit annoyed by the other man. Iori had always thought Tanaka was a bit too easy-going and unprofessional, which bothered him, but he couldn’t deny that the older man performed his work splendidly, which is why he tolerated him. 

Tanaka smiled and waved for the two to get going. “Yes, yes, enjoy your romantic stroll through the streets of Northmeir. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your luggage so that you can focus on taking care of your beautiful lady.” He said with a smug look before turning around to start carrying their luggage inside. 

Iori rolled his eyes but waved the other off, he then turned to Riku with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about him, he’s not a bad guy, just a bit… eccentric?” He then said, hoping Riku hadn’t gotten too uncomfortable from all of the previous displays. Riku simply laughed awkwardly before answering. “It’s fine, and it’s like I said in the carriage before, you don’t need to worry about every little thing, I can handle it! Usually, at least…” 

Iori nodded and started walking, Riku also picked up his pace to walk beside the other. “So, a walk through town, huh? I didn’t know we were doing that.” Riku said. Iori looked alarmed as he heard this. “Well, I mean, we don’t have to if you don’t want to do that! I mainly used it as an excuse to get away from Tanaka anyway, and also, I thought you might want to see the city? Since it’s your first time here and all. Although I can’t show you all of it, obviously, it’s a huge city after all, the biggest in Pandragora and-“ Iori suddenly stopped talking, realizing he had started to ramble. His face flushed a dark red and he looked away. 

Riku looked at Iori with a smile as he talked, and once he had realized what he had done and turned away, Riku simply laughed. “It’s fine! I didn’t mind. And I would love to see the city, so will you show me around?” He asked with a smile, even though he already knew the answer. Iori cleared his throat, most likely to hide his embarrassment, and then nodded before picking up his pace again. 

“So…” Riku started. “How are we doing this? Should I hold your hand or something? Maybe holding onto your arm would be better?” He then asked. At first, Iori simply looked at him confused. “What do you mean?” Iori asked. Riku looked away, a light pink splayed across his cheeks. “Well, we are supposed to be married, if we run into someone you know, wouldn’t it be better if I held onto you, or something? Isn’t that what couples do, or have I got a completely delusional image of how a husband and wife are supposed to act?” Is what Riku said next. 

All of this left Iori quite stunned, he had thought Riku would be totally against all physical contact, but now he was the one initiating it. No, that wasn’t quite right either. Of course he must be uncomfortable with this, and yet he was pushing himself to act like a ‘wife’. Iori did have to admit that it would be more convenient if they held hands or something, just in case someone showed up. He swallowed and held out his hand for Riku to take. “No, no, you’re completely right, that would probably be for the best. I’m sorry if it’s making you uncomfortable, just let me know whenever you want me to let go, okay?” He said, trying to make the situation at least a little bit more bearable for the other. 

For a few seconds, Riku just stared at Iori, but once he managed to snap out of it he smiled and took ahold of Iori’s outstretched hand. “You keep talking about me being uncomfortable, but aren’t you uncomfortable too? Or does it not bother you?” Riku asked. Iori was, once again, a bit stunned at Riku’s question. It wasn’t uncomfortable, per se, but it wasn’t like he particularly enjoyed it either. “Well, I’m kind of indifferent, I think. I mean, I don’t necessarily like it, but I don’t dislike it either. I guess it’s kind of neutral?” He said. 

“Hmm…” Riku hummed and that was that. They didn’t make much conversation after that. The only one who really talked was Iori, he was explaining what the different places they walked past were. For a long time, Riku was simply silent and listened to what Iori was telling him. Northmeir was a beautiful city and Riku did get excited by all the new sites, in fact, his excitement overpowered the cold weather outside, which should be bothering him more than it did. They’d walked past some shopping districts, a park, the church, the theatre and so on. 

When they had been walking for about an hour Iori suddenly stopped. Riku gave him a questioning look, not sure why the other had stopped walking. “Why did we stop? Is there something interesting around here?” Riku asked, to which Iori simply shook his head. “Not really, I was just thinking which way to take from here. I thought I could show you the castle, well, at least the outside of the castle, but there are two ways to take there so I was just thinking about which one to get.” Iori answered. 

Riku looked around and then asked something else. “Well, what options do we have? I can pick if you let me know the alternatives.” After that Iori explained how they could either keep walking forward, reaching the very center of Northmeir, which would be bustling with people, or they could turn right up ahead and walk up some stairs, after which they would reach the city’s largest park, which was also rumored to be very beautiful. After thinking their options through, Riku replied. “How about we take the stairs and the park now, and then when we go back, we can walk through the center? I would love to see both.” 

Iori nodded. “Okay, just let me know if you get tired, we can always keep going tomorrow or some other day, we don’t have to see it all today.” He said and Riku responded by nodding. It was silent again, but then Iori decided to ask Riku something. “How much does your condition affect your everyday life? Like now, is it hard to walk around like this for extended periods of time, or is it okay?” He wasn’t sure how Riku felt talking about his condition, so he hadn’t really asked before. 

“Hmm…” Riku hummed and looked as if he was deep in thought. “Well, it depends, really. Generally, walking around this much in such cold weather would make it a bit difficult, but today seems to be a good day, so I feel okay. Some days are better than others and I’m not always as sensitive to the things that bother me. I promise I’ll let you know if I struggle, so don’t worry about pushing me too hard, I’ll let you know my limits.” He answered a few seconds later. 

“Okay.” Iori said, not really sure how else he was supposed to respond. As they kept walking they reached the park and Iori made small stops every now and then, explaining something to Riku. About ten minutes later, they were stood looking out over the ginormous castle. Riku’s jaw dropped in awe, sure, the buildings in Myronia were more beautifully decorated, with more attention to detail, but this castle must have been the biggest building Riku had ever seen, granted he hadn’t seen a lot of big buildings. “Wow, that’s huge… Is that where the gala will be held? Will I get to go in there?” He asked excitedly. 

Iori looked at Riku in disbelief, sure, Riku had been quite excited and mostly in a good mood since they left that morning, but he had never seen anyone this genuinely excited before. His eyes sparkled and there was a certain wonder in them, his smile was bright and Iori swore that you could almost see an invisible tail wagging behind the redhead. Seeing this made Iori laugh, although he tried to cover it up by covering his mouth with his free hand. Seeing this made Riku a bit annoyed. “Hey, what are you laughing about? Stop it! It’s not funny!” He exclaimed and hit Iori lightly in the shoulder while pouting. 

Iori soon managed to collect himself. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it! I swear! But yes, that is where the gala will be held, and you will get to go there, and not only during the gala, we will have to go there to start preparing in about four days or so.” He said. As he was talking, he couldn’t help but think that Riku looked kind of cute. Okay, scratch that, he looked absolutely adorable. Not that Iori would ever admit this to anyone. 

Riku was satisfied with Iori’s answer and nodded. However, before anyone could continue a particularly strong and cold gust of wind invaded their space, and with it the cold finally started getting to Riku who shivered, let go of Iori’s hand in order to wrap his own arms around himself, seeking warmth. As he was steadying his breath, however, it turned into a cough. Iori looked at the other worriedly, after Riku let go of him, his hand had felt strangely cold and he couldn’t help wondering if Riku felt the same. When he saw the other start struggling a bit, he realized that the feeling in his hand was probably the last thing he was supposed to be thinking about right now. 

Iori wrapped an arm around Riku’s shoulders, trying to both calm the other down and warm him up at the same time. It didn’t take long, luckily. “Thank you, and I’m sorry for that.” Riku said quietly. Iori gave him a sympathetic smile and rubbed Riku’s arms, hoping it would help keep him warm. He suddenly realized what he was doing and that it might make the other uncomfortable, so he let go of Riku and took a step back. “It’s fine, it’s not like it’s your fault. But I think maybe we should skip going to the center of town today, let’s just get back and warm up, okay?” Iori offered. 

Riku nodded but Iori could see that the other looked a bit disappointed, he had probably wanted to keep going, but Iori wasn’t going to risk anything. “Right, like you said, we’ll have time to explore more some other day…” Riku said. Iori held out his hand again, this time, however, Riku grabbed onto his entire arm, using it to steady himself as he suddenly felt quite tired. And so, the two walked back through the streets of Northmeir after their first day on the trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you were able to enjoy this chapter, like I said, I'll be back on Saturday with the next one, so until then! ^^  
> Thank you all so much for leaving kudos and comments and just supporting this story, it makes me so happy and motivated! <3<3


	16. A Big Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku and Iori are doing work in Northmeir while waiting for the day of the gala.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Saturday so it's time for another update! ^^ Also, happy belated birthday to our favorite Onii-san/Ossan, Yamato-san! <3 Without further ado, here's the new chapter, hopefully you'll enjoy it!  
> If you want to ask me something/talk to me somewhere other than here, you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Everything was a mess. Riku wasn’t exactly sure what had gone wrong, but obviously something had. It had come to his attention that he was simply not very good in the kitchen. He was also pretty clumsy, which was probably a big factor in what had resulted in the current situation.

It was the third day of Iori and Riku’s stay in the capital and Riku had been asked to help out in the kitchen since they were a bit short-staffed. This soon proved itself to be a bad decision. Iori had already told Riku almost everything he needed to know in order to help out, he knew what needed to be done and how to do it, in theory at least. Turns out it wasn’t as simple as he had thought. 

Somehow, Riku had managed to make a total mess of the kitchen, destroy the bread they were baking, break two plates and spill an entire bag of flour on one of the workers. How exactly had this happened? He was just as clueless as everybody else. 

Riku sighed as he headed upstairs to the bedroom he and Iori had been using since they arrived. He had been excused from the kitchen, most likely so that he wouldn’t cause an even bigger mess than he already had. The two workers that were left down there had ensured him that they would take care of the cleanup, as well as making some new bread instead of that which Riku had accidentally ruined. 

Once he entered his room, he wasted no time in cleaning himself up, he took off the dirty clothes, washed himself and then got dressed in a new dress. Riku was fixing his hair when he heard the bedroom door open, and then he saw Iori standing in the doorway. “Oh, you’re back…” Riku said as he looked away in shame. Iori had been out for a while, checking up on some issues with a delivery and Riku had dreaded his return only because he didn’t want the other to be disappointed. 

Iori, however, didn’t look disappointed or angry at all, which kind of took Riku by surprise. In fact, he just looked amused. “I am, how did helping out go?” He asked with a smug tone that told Riku that Iori already knew exactly how it had ended. The redhead thus gave him a deadpan look, as if saying he wasn’t amused. “Ha ha, very funny. I told you I’m not good in the kitchen! Ugh, I should have just stayed here and studied some more, this whole mess would have been avoided if I did.” Riku said and sat down on the bed with a sigh. 

Iori walked over to the bed, sat down beside Riku and patted his shoulder. “It’s fine, we’ve dealt with worse before. More importantly, are you okay? All the flour in the air when you dropped the bag can’t have been good for your lungs.” Iori said while looking at the other with concern. Riku smiled slightly, glad that Iori wasn’t angry with him. “It’s fine, I got out of the room as soon as I could and waited for a while before going back, so I barely inhaled any of it.” Riku answered. 

Iori smiled and nodded, glad that the redhead hadn’t gotten hurt. “Well, if you’re up for it, there’s something else you could help with, something that doesn’t involve the kitchen. I still have some errands to run, do you think you could help me out with two of them?” Riku looked at the other, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t interested, he may not have any prior experience with any type of work, but he always felt horrible when he did nothing. He wanted to at least try and be of some help. “Sure, what do you need me to do?” He asked. 

“I’m going to need you to take this,” Iori paused and held out a folder for Riku to take before continuing. “To the one in charge of our restaurant that’s located at the central square, you know, the one we couldn’t visit the first day but went to see yesterday? It’s the newly developed recipes that we have created since the last time we were here, and he have yet to look them over. You just need to give them to him, he’ll come find us once he has finished looking at them.” Iori explained. He had been meaning to take them to the man sooner, but there had simply been other things that had gotten in his way. 

“Then, once you’ve done that you will need to take this,” Iori continued while holding out a different folder. “To Mister Tanaka. All the papers in this file need to be signed by him so wait for him to do that, then take back the papers and return here, Sounds simple enough, right?” Iori said. Riku smiled and nodded, glad to both be able to stay out of the kitchen and to be able to look around the city some more. However, he soon realized a small problem. “Wait, where does Mister Tanaka live?” He asked the other. 

“Oh, he lives right across from the restaurant you’ll be going to, that’s why I thought you could do both, since they’re so close to each other. You’ll find it easily, his door is painted in an obnoxious purple colour, it’s the only purple door in the entire square so it really isn’t hard to find at all.” Iori explained so that Riku would be able to find his way there. 

Riku smiled at the other, now feeling excited to get to go out and actually be useful. “Okay, I’ll get going immediately!” He said excitedly, then he stood up, grabbed a bag, put the two folders inside, put on his coat, scarf and gloves and headed out the door. “Be careful!” Iori yelled out as the redhead left the room. Something he had discovered lately was that Riku’s mood was awfully contagious. If he was happy and excited Iori himself seemed to cheer up, while he, too, ended up feeling sad and irritated if Riku did. It was both a bit scary and fascinating at the same time. 

Iori, too, stood up and left the room, getting ready to take care of some errands himself. If he was quick, he might be finished by the time Riku returned, so without further ado, he got started on what he needed to do. 

Riku had just reached the square. Looking around he couldn’t help but think to himself that it was really beautiful. It was quite small and homely, considering it was the most central square in the entire capital of Pandragora. Riku walked across it to the restaurant located on the left side of the square from where he was standing. Opening the door, he was greeted by a warm atmosphere and an amazing smell, most likely from the food. The room was filled with people who were sitting down, enjoying whatever it was they were eating. 

He walked up to the desk and waited for someone to come greet him. He didn’t have to wait long as a young woman soon showed up to greet him. “Welcome Miss, how can I help you?” She asked politely. “My name is Izumi Riku, I’m here to deliver some papers to the one in charge of this restaurant, could you tell me where I can find him?” Riku asked in return. The woman’s eyes widened, and she covered her now open moth with her right hand. “Oh my, as in the main family? I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you. I’ll take you to him immediately.” She said and then invited him behind the desk and through a door in the back. 

As they walked through the building, Riku could both see and sense that the woman was really tense, maybe because Riku was from the main family? He really didn’t think she needed to be so tense, so he decided to try and calm her down. “Is everything okay? You really don’t need to be nervous or anything you know.” He said. 

The woman looked at him, her expression showing that she was most likely a bit taken aback. “I’m really sorry, I was just a bit disappointed in myself, I should have been able to recognize a member of the main Izumi family…” Riku smiled at her. “It’s fine, I’m a very new addition to the household I suppose, I’m still not quite used to it myself.” He said. Hearing this, the woman’s eyes widened again. “Oh my, you’re the one who married Izumi Iori, aren’t you? I heard there was a wedding, but since I’m only a waiter here at the restaurant I obviously wasn’t invited. I’m sorry if it’s rude, I know it isn’t really my place to ask, but how is it? Being married to the young master?” 

Riku wasn’t expecting her to ask about Iori, so it took a while for him to formulate an answer. “It’s good. He’s been very good to me, even though I’m still learning my way around this business.” He said simply, not sure what aspect of his and Iori’s marriage she was asking about. “I see. You’re very lucky, you know? Many women have been dreaming about marrying the young master. He’s very kind and intelligent, and also awfully handsome, don’t you think?” The woman asked. 

Suddenly, Riku understood what this was about. This girl had been crushing on Iori. “Oh yes, he certainly is quite handsome.” He said, feeling a bit bad for her. There were people who had genuinely been wanting to be with Iori, and yet, Riku had been the one to do it. He couldn’t give Iori what these girls could, so why had he been the one? Well, he knew why it had happened, but now that he saw that there had been others who would have loved to be in his position, he couldn’t help but feel bad. He felt almost guilty, but there was also some part of him that felt a bit irritated with the girl. After all, it was rather inappropriate to talk fondly about another’s husband in front of said person, wasn't it? 

Riku was pulled out from his thoughts when they reached a big door. “This is his office, I need to go back now but I assume you will be able to find your way out on your own when you’re finished?” She asked while smiling politely. Riku just nodded before turning to the door and knocked. The door opened and in front of him stood a very big man. He was both tall and round, had short blonde hair, small brown eyes, a messy beard and he wore a green suit. Riku smiled and greeted him and then they got to work. 

The delivery had gone great, on his way out Riku had greeted the same girl that showed him the way before exiting the building. The purple door across the street had been very easy for him to find, just like Iori said, it was the only purple door in the area. Getting Tanaka’s signature hadn’t been problematic either, and about twenty minutes later he was finished, although he had to refuse Tanaka’s many invitations to stay longer. 

Riku was now on his way back but, all of a sudden, he felt something colliding with his legs. He lost his balance for a moment but managed to regain it seconds later. He looked down and on the ground in font of him there was a little girl. She couldn’t be old, four or five, maybe six years old as most. Her nearly white hair was a mess, her clothes were ragged, and she was covered in dirt. Was she homeless? Riku had been told that there were quite a lot of poor, or maybe even homeless people living on the streets of Northmeir, but this was his first time seeing one of them in person. Granted he had only been to the fancier neighborhoods. 

Riku felt bad, she was so small, was she on her own? Did she have parents who took care of her? He bent down and held out his left hand for the little girl to take, wanting to help her get up. She looked up at him and he was met with a pair of big, bright red eyes. She hesitantly took a hold of his hand and once she was back on her feet Riku was going to ask her if she was okay, but before he got the chance to, she grabbed onto his ring finger and pulled. He looked down and saw that she had pulled the wedding ring he wore off of his finger and was now sprinting away down the street. 

“Hey, stop!” Riku yelled. He stood up and followed the girl, he couldn’t just let her run off with his ring, what would Iori say if he lost it? What would the rest of the Izumi family think? The little girl was surprisingly fast for such a small child but Riku still managed to catch up to her. He grabbed her arm and took his ring back, once it was back in his hold he sank down onto the ground, breathing heavily. 

The little girl was about to run away but for some reason she stayed. Riku looked up at her and saw that it looked like she was concerned. He couldn’t blame her, after all, most people wouldn’t collapse like this after running for such a small amount of time. “I’m sorry…” She said weakly while looking down on the ground. “Mister, are you okay?” She then said. 

Riku had managed to calm his breathing down and looked up to meet her worried gaze, he smiled at her and nodded. “I’m fine, sorry for worrying you.” He said, but then he realized just what the little girl had said before. “Wait, did you call me ‘Mister’? Why did you call me that?” He asked in shock. Had this tiny, homeless child managed to see through his disguise? Or had he simply misheard her? 

“What do you mean why? Because you’re a man, even though you look like a girl. I don’t know why you’re dressed like that, but it’s none of my business.” She answered. Riku couldn’t believe this, how had she figured him out? He figured the only way to learn that was to ask her. “How did you realize? I thought no one would figure it out just by looking…” He said, a bit worried that he had missed something before going out, but nobody else had pointed anything out, so surely, he must look the same as before? 

“I’m sorry, when I fell over after crashing into you there was a wind, and your skirt blew up…” She said while looking at the ground in shame. Riku blinked, then, once he understood what she was implying his face flushed a deep red. Well, at least that would explain how the girl knew his secret, and he didn’t have to worry about others having figured him out. “I’m really sorry! I really didn’t mean to look…” She exclaimed, looking very guilty. 

Riku smiled and patted the girl’s head. “It’s okay, just make sure you don’t tell anyone, okay? Absolutely no one can know, it’s a secret.” He told her. She looked at him, smiled slightly and nodded. “Okay, I promise. Pinky promise!” She said while holding out her right hand, pinky finger out, and smiling brightly at Riku. Riku’s heart melted at the sight, he wasted no time and grabbed onto her pinky finger with his own and shook it. “Great! Now, why did you try to take my ring?” He asked, he wanted to know this girl’s story, maybe he could try and help her. 

The guilty and sad look was back on her face a soon as the words left Riku's mouth. “Well… I’m sorry, but it looked like I could sell it…” She said. Riku nodded. “Do you need money? Don’t your mother and father get enough?” He asked, despite kind of already knowing the answer. 

The little girl shook her head and looked sad. “I don’t have a mommy, or a daddy. They died half a year ago…” Riku couldn’t help but sympathize with the poor child. “Then where do you live now? Who takes care of you?” He asked. “The old men and women on the street, nobody wanted to take me in so I was all alone, but some kind old people told me I could sleep by their fire! They don’t have anything, so they can’t give me money, food or clothes, but they at least gave me a warm place to sleep.” She said, smiling towards the end. So she really was homeless, living on the streets despite being so young. 

Riku wasn’t sure what to do, he wanted to help the girl, but he didn’t know how. In the end, he decided that maybe he could give her something he had of value that wasn’t his wedding ring, and maybe he could also sneak out some food. “You know what, I’ve got something I would like to give you, if you want it that is. What do you say?” He asked her. Her eyes lit up and she nodded while smiling brightly. Riku stood up, held out his hand, and then the two were off. 

“I’m Riku, by the way, Izumi Riku.” He told her. She smiled up at him. “My name is Kinako! I’m five years old! It’s very nice to meet you, Riku!” She said. Riku smiled down at her, thinking how unfair it was that someone like her could wind up in this situation. When they got back, Riku told Kinako to wait outside while he went in to fetch her gift. In the end, he gave her a pair of earrings that his mother had given him, as well as a small pouch of coins and a bag with some bread, ham, cheese and fruits. Seeing Kinako’s face light up the way it did when she saw this made Riku very happy, they bid each other farewell and Riku could do nothing more than to pray that things would soon become better for the small child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I'll be back on Wednesday with the next chapter. ^^ Next chapter is the start of the gala, which I'm super excited for, so look forward to that!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for leaving comments and kudos, they mean the world to me and they motivate me more than anything else! <3


	17. The Gala Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the night of the gala, will everything go as planned or will something unexpected happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back, and this time it's finally time for the gala! This might actually be one of my favorite parts of this story so far, I really enjoyed writing it. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!  
> If you want to find me somewhere else, you can do so on on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

The week had gone by way too fast, and before they knew it, the time for the gala had already arrived. The day before, Iori and Riku had gone to the palace to make the final preparations, while the two of them technically wouldn’t be working during the gala, they had to make sure that everything was prepared and went according to plan. They would be attending as the Izumi family’s representatives, which simply meant that they needed to be there and talk to the guests, basically.

Riku was very excited but also very nervous, he had never attended a gala before, not even those held in his own home, because of his health. (Although he suspected it was actually his parents’ way to keep him a secret from the rest of the world.) When he and Iori had visited the palace Riku had barely been able to contain his excitement, it had been difficult, but he had somehow managed to hide it in the end. 

It was now only a couple of hours left until he and Iori needed to be at the palace and Riku was currently getting ready for the gala. Before they had left the Izumi mansion, Madame Izumi had pulled Riku aside and given him some money, telling him to buy a new dress in the capital for the event. Riku had initially declined, saying that he already had a dress suitable for the occasion and that she didn’t need to give him money for something like that. However, she had insisted and, in the end, Riku had caved and thanked her as he took the money he was offered. 

The dress he had bought was a light blue one, to match Iori’s dark blue suit. It had tight sleeves that ended just below his elbows and it left most of his shoulders as well as his collarbones exposed. The top of the dress tightly clung to his torso and a ribbon was tied around his waist, making it stand out more. From there the fabric flowed into a long, wide skirt in different layers that covered up the entirety of his legs. The skirt, as well as the cleavage was decorated with tiny roses made of the same fabric as the outermost layer of the skirt. To accompany this he wore thin lace gloves, a pearl necklace with the occasional blue gemstone in it and earrings with the same blue gemstones that decorated the necklace. He had curled the hair on his wig and collected it all into a high ponytail, letting some of the bangs fall out and frame his face, he then placed a hair ornament on top of his head, near the base of the ponytail, which consisted of white lace, blue roses made of fabric and some pearls. 

Once Riku had finished he looked in the mirror and sighed. He had to admit that he looked rather pretty, but no matter how ‘beautiful’ he looked, he couldn’t help but feel that it just wasn’t him. Despite still being a bit unsettled by it all, Riku felt that he was finished and walked out of the room only to be greeted by Iori who stood by the window, readjusting the bowtie he wore. 

Upon hearing the door open and close, Iori turned around. Once he saw Riku he couldn’t help but stare, Riku was generally a very pretty person, Iori wouldn’t deny this, and right now, when he was dressed up like that, he looked absolutely stunning. Riku looked at him weirdly, most likely for staring, which made Iori collect himself. “Uhm, wow, you look amazing.” Iori said before he had a chance to think about it, and once he did, he started blushing and looked the other way. 

Riku frowned at first, but then he remembered that Iori didn’t mean any harm with that comment, so instead he collected himself and smiled. “Thanks, I suppose...” He said. Iori looked at him with a weird face. “You’re unhappy? You know, if you really don’t want to go, I can make up some excuse and go alone.” Iori said, which caught Riku off-guard. 

“What? No, of course you don’t need to do that! I’m fine, I was just thinking, really!” Riku exclaimed, not wanting to cause any trouble for Iori. The other man nodded and then held out his arm for Riku to hold on to, which he did. The pair then went downstairs and outside, where a carriage was waiting to take them to the palace. They entered the carriage and then they were off to the gala. 

The atmosphere inside of the carriage was a bit stale. Most of the time, Iori and Riku got along just fine, especially since Iori learned the truth. But every once in a while, it would become awkward and neither really knew what to do or what to say. Iori decided to break the silence by asking Riku what he had been thinking about. “What were you thinking about before? You looked a bit troubled, so if there’s anything you need help with, just let me know.” He said and looked at the redhead sat across from him. 

Riku looked up to face Iori when he heard him talking to him, at first, he was a bit uncertain whether or not he should discuss this with Iori, but in the end, Riku decided that it would probably be nice to get this off his chest. “It’s nothing important, it’s just something that hit me when I was changing. You know, I’ve always been pretty self-conscious about the way that I look, like my body’s too thin, or that my eyes are too big... I’ve always kind of disliked it. But now that I’m in this situation, it’s to my advantage that I look like this, it might have been hard to pull off this look otherwise.” Riku trailer off and stayed silent for a while, Iori could tell the other wasn’t finished yet and so, he kept quiet. 

“It’s just so confusing to look at myself in the mirror, while the person I see is undoubtedly me, it’s also not. Imagine seeing your own face on somebody else’s body. It’s weird, I don’t know how to feel about it…” Riku continued. Iori smiled sympathetically before responding. “Does it really matter that much?” Iori asked, which caught Riku off-guard. He looked at the Iori with a mix of shock and confusion in his eyes. “What do you mean? It might not be very important, but it really has been bothering me! Weren’t you the one who told me to tell you these things?” Riku said, a bit upset at Iori’s indifference to it all. 

Iori brought his hands up to cover his chest and made gestures to calm Riku down. “Calm down, I didn’t mean it like that! I get that it’s been bothering you, but I think you’re misunderstanding what I’m talking about! My brother has actually been dealing with similar insecurities for a long time, since he’s kind of short and not very muscular, he always thought he looked too feminine. But just because your body doesn’t look like that of the ideal male, does that make you any less of a man? I just don’t see why it should matter so much… I guess, what I’m trying to say with all of this is that, aren’t you okay just as you are? I think you look great, whether you’re dressed like a man or a woman.” Iori said, before turning his head the other way to try and hide the blush that was rapidly spreading across his entire face. 

Riku felt his own face burning more and more with every word Iori said. It wasn’t the first time he had voiced his insecurities to other people, but this was the first time the one he told had honestly managed to make him feel a lot better about it, something not even Riku’s beloved twin brother had managed to do. Riku almost wanted to cry, but he collected himself, making sure not to ruin the makeup he had put on earlier. He then reached out for Iori, letting his hand land on the other’s knee and squeezing. “Thank you.” Riku said while smiling brightly and sincerely, trying to convey how truly thankful he felt at that moment. 

Iori had turned back around upon feeling Riku’s touch on his knee, and the sight of Riku’s expression made his chest feel warm. The two stayed like that for a few seconds, eyes locked together while smiling, but then the carriage came to a halt. They had arrived at the palace. 

The two took a moment to collect themselves before Iori stood up, opened the door and exited the carriage, after which he held out his right hand to help Riku off the carriage. For the first time since he arrived in Pandragora, Riku didn’t hesitate before taking hold of Iori’s hand, in fact, he felt himself seek out his touch. The two walked up to the entrance of the castle while holding onto each other, gave their names and invitations to the guards, and then they were let in and showed into the great hall where the gala would be held. 

The room was beautifully decorated and soothing music was playing in the background, a few guests had already arrived, but Iori and Riku were among the first. It was at this moment that Riku realized something. He tugged on Iori’s sleeve to direct his attention to himself before he leaned up and whispered in his ear. “Hey Iori, what exactly are we celebrating? Why are they holding this gala?” Iori looked at Riku in disbelief before he facepalmed with his free hand. “You mean you don’t even know that?” He asked quietly. 

Riku pouted. “Well, you never told me! How was I supposed to know?” He exclaimed. Iori just sighed and shook his head. “You could have asked earlier!” He told the other, the tone of his voice made it sound like he was scolding Riku, which he probably was. “I’m asking you now, so tell me!” Riku said, not liking the tone Iori was using. “Right, sorry, it’s the anniversary for the king and queen’s marriage, that’s why they’re celebrating.” Iori replied. 

Riku pulled back slightly and looked a bit taken aback, he then leaned back in to ask Iori something else. “Wouldn’t that normally be celebrated more privately? Why invite all these people to this?” He had always assumed that an anniversary like this would be celebrated in a much smaller scale, maybe even only between the two of them. “Well, most people would probably celebrate like that, but the current king and queen are awfully fond of big celebrations, using every excuse they can to throw a party, banquet, ball or gala like this.” Iori explained and Riku nodded, finally understanding the situation. 

It was at this moment that Iori saw someone approaching them out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and was met with blonde hair, blue eyes and a bright, yet polite smile. “Ah, Rokuya-san. It’s good to see you again.” Iori said politely while bowing slightly. Riku did the same, although he was a bit more flustered. Nagi smiled and stopped in front of the two. “Welcome, Iori, Riku, I’m glad to see that you both could attend the gala tonight.” He said. 

Riku wasn’t entirely sure how to act around Nagi, him being a prince and all, combined with how he had acted the last time they met. Luckily, it seemed Iori was used to Nagi’s antics and didn’t hesitate to strike up a conversation. “Nii-san would have liked to be here as well, but he sadly had work to do elsewhere.” Iori said, to which Nagi simply replied, “In Nesbury, right? We’ve been exchanging letters. I heard he’s staying with the Osakas, is that right?” The conversation kept going in this direction for quite a while, apparently Izumi Mitsuki was something Iori and Nagi could talk about for a long time. 

A few minutes later, the three were joined by Nikaido Yamato, who were also attending the party. Riku had started talking with him instead, thus allowing Iori and Nagi to keep talking. The other man was surprisingly easy to talk to, he was a bit awkward at times, but Riku found it very interesting to listen to his various stories. And just like this, the gala had started out successfully, little did they know that it was not going to last for very long. 

About three hours had now passed since Iori and Riku had arrived at the palace, the king and queen had welcomed everybody and then they had brought forth the food. Around this time, Iori had gotten a bit stressed, there had been a few mishaps, but in the end it all went according to plan. Representing the Izumi family, who had provided the food, drinks and snacks for the night, both Iori and Riku had been showered with compliments, even though, technically, they had only helped with the planning and the preparations and thus, hadn't actually made any of the food. 

Right now, Riku was sat at a table, sipping his drink while Iori had gone off to talk with a client. Music was playing, and as the time passed, more people finished their food and instead went to either talk with some other guests or dance with somebody. Riku felt fine where he was, he had already talked to more people than he would have liked and he could barely remember half of their names, so he felt like he had done his fair share of interactions for the night. 

A few minutes later, Iori was walking back to Riku, having already finished whatever he had needed to do before. “Hey, are you doing okay?” He asked once he reached the other, sitting down beside him. Riku smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve kind of just been sitting around.” He replied. After this, it was silent. Neither boy said anything, both content to just sit around and observe. The music changed and a new song started playing, a song that Riku recognized. He immediately perked up and turned to Iori with a smile. “You play Myronian music on your parties? Isn’t this one of the most famous songs composed and performed by a Myronian musician?” He asked excitedly. 

Iori was a bit taken aback by the other’s sudden change in attitude at first but collected himself before Riku could notice. “Well, yeah, like you said, it’s a very famous piece of music.” He explained. Riku then stood up and smiled down at Iori. “You know, I don’t usually do dancing, but if I’m willing to dance to any song tonight, it’s this. People would start to think weird things if we didn’t dance, right? After all, it’s something couples tend to do during galas like these, right?” He asked. Iori simply looked at the redhead, dumbfounded. 

“Are you asking me to dance?” Iori asked simply. “Well, traditionally, shouldn’t you be the one to ask? I’ve simply invited you to ask me, if you want to that is…” Riku answered, still looking quite excited. Iori sighed and got up, taking a hold of one of Riku’s hands and asking, “May I have this dance?” Riku smiled and answered. "Of course!" And then the two were off to the dance floor. 

The song was quite slow, so there weren’t any fast movements, which was to Riku’s advantage as he wouldn’t get out of breath as easily. Iori had placed his free hand on Riku’s waist while Riku put his own free hand on Iori’s shoulder, and then they started dancing. At first, they were quiet, but that didn’t last all too long. “I didn’t think you liked to dance?” Iori asked. 

Hearing the question, Riku looked up at the other, which caused him to stumble a bit. Luckily, Iori easily caught him, as he had already been holding onto Riku. “Well, I’ve barely ever danced before, and I’m not very good at it, which you might have noticed already. I’ve never disliked it though. Although, before I only knew the male steps, so this is all still really new. Also, I don’t mind it right now as much as I did on our wedding, but that might be because I know you better now than I did before, also, you know that I’m not actually a girl now.” Riku answered as he regained his footing. 

“Right.” Iori simply answered while still dancing around the room. A few minutes later, the music came to a halt before the tune changed again. Iori and Riku were about to head back to the table they had been sat at before, not really wanting to dance anymore, when they were approached by a certain blonde prince. 

Nagi had stopped the two in their tracks, after which he bowed politely to the two of them before speaking. “I couldn’t help but watch the two of you on the dancefloor, which made me want to dance myself. Now, it just so happens that this next song is a bit special.” He said. Iori tensed up a bit, seeing this, Riku assumed he already knew what would come next. Riku himself had no idea, he hadn’t been to any galas before, after all. “Rokuya-san, I don’t mean to be rude, but do you really think that’s a-“ Iori started but was promptly interrupted by the prince himself. 

“You see, everyone is supposed to switch partners for this song, which is why I’m here.” He continued before he turned to face Riku, taking his hand in his and meeting the redhead’s confused gaze. “So, would you, my lady, give me the honor of having this next dance?” Nagi finished while smiling. 

Iori tried to interfere, not wanting Riku to have to do something that made him uncomfortable. “You know you can say no if you don’t want to, right? You don’t have to agree just because he’s the prince.” Iori told Riku, to which he received a pout from Nagi. Riku, who, at first, had been planning on doing just what Iori had said he could do, suddenly changed his mind. He wasn’t sure what made him change his mind, but he simply smiled and directed his gaze to the blonde prince in front of him. “As long as it doesn’t upset Iori all too much, I suppose I could give you the honor.” He said with a slight smirk directed towards Iori, which shocked the other boy. “Uhh, I suppose I don’t mind?” Iori answered, although the answer sounded like a question as well. 

Hearing the two’s answers, Nagi felt excited. “Well then, don’t fret Iori, I will return your wife after this one dance. Shall we?” He said, first directed at Iori, and then at Riku. Riku nodded and went back out onto the dancefloor, this time with Nagi instead of Iori. 

Dancing with Nagi was very different from dancing with Iori. With Iori, it had been kind of calm and comforting, Riku hadn’t felt uncomfortable in the slightest even though it was a very slow song which made for a more intimate dance. It had all felt like just another chance for the two to bond. With Nagi, however, it was anything but calm. Sure, the song was a lot faster, which also meant they’d have to move around more, which distracted from the slight awkwardness in their movements. It wasn’t too fast though, Riku could still keep up with it all. If anything, dancing with Nagi was fun, it made Riku smile in a different way than the soft smiles he sometimes shared with Iori. Now, he smiled only because he was amused, it seemed Nagi wasn’t taking this all too serious either, so instead, the two simply had a good time together, even though it had been a bit weird at first. 

Then, all of a sudden, the cheerful atmosphere was shattered along with one of the big glass windows in the room. Screams could be heard and everywhere people were running around in a panic, seeking shelter from the glass shards that were falling into the room. “Riku!” Iori screamed out as both Riku and Nagi had been quite close to the broken window. He ran over and was relieved upon seeing that Riku was, fortunately, mostly fine. Iori knelt down next to Riku, looking for any injuries. “Are you okay? You’re not badly hurt, right?” He said in a panicked tone. Riku nodded, however, he was breathing a bit too hard for Iori’s liking. 

Riku had been startled by it all, luckily, he had been far enough away that he hadn’t been cut by any of the glass, however, he had started to panic slightly, which caused his breathing to become uneven and erratic. He pulled himself closer to Iori, seeking warmth and comfort in his embrace in order to try and calm himself down. Iori in return placed one hand on the back of Riku’s head while the other was stroking up and down his back. 

After Iori had arrived, Nagi had left the two, going to find his family to make sure that they were all okay. Just as Riku’s breathing was beginning to calm down, something else happened. A loud bang could be heard and then there was a rapidly growing fire in a corner of the room. Seeing this, the guests that were still conscious after the last incident started screaming while also trying to run away, which caused people to get stuck in the door opening. 

Seeing the fire, Riku immediately covered his mouth, looking up at Iori with panic in his eyes. Iori understood, the smoke from the fire would be very bad for Riku’s lungs, they needed to get out of the room as soon as they could. With everyone pushing their way forward at the door, it would be almost impossible to get out that way any time soon, so Iori promptly started looking for another way out. 

Despite having calmed down earlier, Riku was worse off now than he was before, it got harder and harder to breath for every passing second and his throat started to burn from the smoke he had inhaled so far. Iori then found a way out for them. They were only on the first floor, and the window that had broken earlier was a relatively safe distance away from the fire. Iori wasted no time and picked up Riku, carrying him bridal style towards the window. Once outside he started running, after all, the further away from the fire, smoke and danger they were, the better. 

Riku at this point were close to passing out. The last thing he saw before his vision went black was that in the middle of the fire there stood a hooded figure, and on the figure's shoulder, there was a single big black bird. A person with raven engulfed in fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next capter will be out on Saturday and will pick up right where this ends (almost at least). I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you are looking forward to the next! ^^ Thank you all for leaving kudos and comments, they mean so much to me!! <3


	18. The Gala Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picking up where the last chapter left off, Riku wakes up after having passed out and sees the aftermath of what happened that night at the gala.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! Happy Saturday, I hope you guys had a great week! ^^ I'm back again with the next chapter of this fic, the second part of the gala. I hope you are excited and that you will enjoy this chapter! Also, @elpimmm on Twitter made some AMAZING fanart for this fic, It looks so good so be sure to check it out: https://twitter.com/EFagerhag/status/1099374879063883777  
> Also, if you want to talk or ask me something somewhere that isn't the comments, you can do so on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

When Riku woke up, all he could see at first was the night sky. He was a bit confused, and his memory was a bit unclear, his chest was also hurting him a bit which made him remember that he’d had another attack. He slowly sat up and tried to take in his surroundings. He was sat on a patch of grass outside, a dark blue jacket lay on his lap, it had most likely been covering his chest to keep it warm before he had sat up. All around him were people that he barely recognized. Most of them seemed scared, some were crying while others comforted them, some were walking back and forth, some were passed out on the ground, some were having wild discussions and some simply stood there, quietly staring out into nothing.

Riku then saw a flickering light behind him out of the corner of his eye. He turned around and saw that the castle was aflame, or at least a part of it was. It was at this moment that it all came back to him, the gala, the dance, the glass breaking and then the fire. He and Iori must have escaped the castle and had gathered up with the other guests. Wait, where was Iori? Looking down, Riku realized that it was Iori’s jacket that lay on his lap, so he must have given it to him, which also meant that he was probably still nearby. 

Just as he was about to try and stand up to look for the other, Riku heard a pained groan coming from his left. He turned around to see who made the sound and found the very same person he had been looking for, sat on a stone while pressing a small piece of cloth to his right calf. Riku’s eyes widened as he saw some blood start to seep through the thin piece of fabric. He tried to make his way over, but as he immediately started coughing and collapsed back onto the ground, he realized that it just wasn’t going to happen any time soon. 

Iori heard he coughs and looked up, only to see that Riku was conscious again, but also that he was having another coughing fit. He limped over to him and sat down beside him. “Hey, are you okay? Do you need me to get you something?” He asked out of concern. 

Riku soon managed to collect himself and immediately thought about how Iori should have more important things to care about at the moment. So, he simply voiced his concerns. “What about you? You’re bleeding…” Riku said and pointed to Iori’s bleeding leg. Iori looked down, then back at Riku and gave him a weak smile. It didn’t convince Riku at all. “Oh this? I just cut myself a little on some glass when I went out the window earlier. It’s really no big deal.” Iori said, trying to appease Riku’s worries. 

Riku sat up again and scooted closer to Iori, since he still didn’t feel well enough to stand up. “Let me see.” He said and removed the hand Iori was using to press the cloth to the wound. Luckily, the wound wasn’t very deep, nor was it very long. It must still hurt a lot, though. “Well, you won’t need stitches or anything, it probably won’t leave a scar either, if you take proper care of it. For now, just make sure to stop the bleeding, we’ll clean it when we get back.” Riku said and reached for the cloth in Iori’s hand, however, upon realizing that it was already soaked with blood and probably wouldn’t do much he lifted his dress and tore off a piece of fabric from one of his underskirts. 

Iori could do nothing but stare in awe as Riku examined the wound, and then his mouth dropped open in shock when Riku tore off some of his own clothes to use as substitute bandages. As Riku pressed the clean piece of cloth to the wound, Iori winced in pain. Riku looked up, his expression showing concern, to which Iori simply smiled down at him. “I didn’t know you knew so much about how to treat a wound.” Iori stated. 

Riku didn’t even flinch when Iori talked, instead he kept his attention on the other’s wounded leg while answering Iori’s statement. “Well, when you spend most of your childhood around doctors and nurses, I guess you pick up a thing or two. It’s not that big of a deal, really.” He said, not really paying attention to the conversation. The bleeding had finally stopped, so Riku pulled out the ribbon that was used to keep his hair up and tied it around the cloth and Iori’s leg, keeping it in place until they could get their hands on a proper bandage. 

Iori continued to observe Riku as he kept working on his wound, the pain forgotten. “I think it’s amazing. I mean, it’s really useful knowledge! You shouldn’t just brush it off as nothing…” He said, getting a bit flustered towards the end. After Riku had finished, he looked up, meeting Iori’s gaze. The redhead smiled sheepishly and a light blush covered his cheeks, Iori couldn’t help but think he looked kind of cute at that moment. “Thanks, it’s very nice of you to say that.” Riku said. 

The two were soon interrupted by someone calling their names. They turned around to see someone who worked for the Izumi family. Apparently, they had come to check on the two of them after having heard about what had happened at the gala. Iori and Riku decided to go back home for the night, along with the worker who had, conveniently enough, brought a carriage along. The worker had supported Riku, who was still a bit weak from the earlier attack, while Iori limped back on his own, much to Riku’s protests. 

Once they were back, they made sure to clean and redress the wound on Iori’s leg, Riku making sure to explain how he should treat it from now on in order for it not to leave a scar. Then the two changed out of their clothes and went to bed. Both boys fell asleep instantly, since they were absolutely exhausted from everything that had happened that evening. 

Riku looked around, wherever he was right now it was so dark he couldn’t tell what sort of place it was. Everything was silent and he could barely see the floor he was stood on. He tried calling out to people, hoping someone would answer him. “Hello? Iori! Tenn-nii! Is anyone there?! Somebody, please!” But nobody answered him, he was all alone. He could feel his chest tighten and his breathing getting more uneven by the minute. 

All of a sudden there was the sound of breaking glass and then he was back in the ballroom in Northmeir’s castle. The ground was covered in broken glass and the room was on fire. Even though he could see the flames and smell the smoke in the air, the room still felt cold. Riku shivered and looked around, the fire was surrounding him, and yet, it didn’t seem like it was spreading anymore. 

Riku turned around and saw the flames part way for a figure. A black silhouette moved closer and closer to him through the opening in the flames and once it got close enough Riku could make out a hooded figure. It seemed quite tall, so Riku assumed it was man, although he supposed it could be a tall lady as well. He couldn’t see their face, as it was completely covered by the hood. Once the person had walked past the flames they stopped, and the flames moved back to where they had been, completely surrounding Riku and the hooded figure. 

“Who are you?!” Riku asked in a panic, taking a step back. Even though he knew nothing about the other he couldn’t help but feel afraid of them. The person held out their arm and a big, black bird came flying down from above, landing on the figure’s held-out arm. Riku gulped and backed further away, looking around once more, there really was no way to get out of there, not unless he wanted to run straight through the fire. He turned back to the hooded figure only to be met with the bird flying straight towards him, turning his vision as black as the night. 

Iori was abruptly woken up by a scream right next to his ear. He sat up in a panic and looked around the room bewildered. To his left, Riku was sat up in the bed, eyes blown wide, hands clutching onto his chest, rocking back and forth as he fought for breath. Iori was immediately wide awake, he scooted over to Riku’s side of the bed, wrapping one of his arms around the other’s shaking frame while he brought his other hand up to Riku’s cheek. He made the redhead look into his eyes and started telling him reassuring things to try and get the other to calm down. Once the initial shock and panic of it all had settled, and Riku’s breathing had calmed down, Iori pulled the other man closer, into his own chest. 

Riku returned the embrace, feeling secure in the other’s arms. He collected himself and then pushed Iori away, smiling apologetically. “I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” He asked. Iori simply looked at the other with sympathy in his eyes. “It’s okay, it’s already morning anyway, look.” Iori said and pointed to the window, and sure enough, the sun was already shining outside. Riku nodded and looked down on the sheets, he still felt a bit out of it after that nightmare. Sensing this, Iori tried asking Riku to tell him about it. “Do you want to talk about it? I’ll listen if you want me to.” 

Riku was about to decline his offer, but then he remembered. The person he saw in his dream wasn’t only in his dream, he had actually seen them yesterday, when he and Iori were running away. He had been too caught up in everything else yesterday, or more specifically, in Iori’s injury. Should he tell him? Riku decided that it probably wouldn’t hurt. “I saw something yesterday, in the fire. There was a person, or at least it looked like a person, but I only saw a silhouette…” He started. 

Iori was a bit confused by what Riku was telling him. “Wait, wait! Are you talking about your dream or what actually happened last night?” He asked the other. Riku simply looked up at him before continuing. “Last night, but the same person did appear in my dream, so maybe it’s both? Anyway, just listen to what happened last night!” Riku said and Iori nodded. “As we were running away from the fire, just before I lost consciousness, I saw something. In the fire, there was a person, like a hooded figure, and I’m not saying they were in front of the fire or behind the fire, they were right in the middle of it! But they weren’t burning! And then I saw a bird! It was sitting on the hooded figure’s shoulder. I think it was a raven, but I’m not sure…” Riku finished his explanation. 

Iori took in what Riku was saying but wasn’t exactly sure what to make of it. It all seemed a bit hard to believe, but Riku didn’t seem like he was lying. Then again, he had been close to passing out, maybe it had just been his imagination? “Are you sure? You were almost unconscious when this happened, what if it was just your mind playing tricks on you?” Iori asked Riku. 

Riku pouted and looked at Iori. “I know what I saw! I mean, I do realize that it’s possible that it wasn’t actually there, but it looked so real! Do you really not believe me?” Riku grabbed onto Iori’s shirt and shook lightly. He wanted Iori to believe him, he couldn’t think he was actually lying, it just didn’t seem like him. Iori immediately started calming Riku down again. “I didn’t say that! I do believe you! At least, I believe that you really think that you saw it, if it was real, however, is something completely different. Like I said, maybe your mind just made up that image on its own. I’m not saying that’s what happened, I’m just saying that we can’t ignore the possibility.” He told Riku, who had calmed down by now. 

Riku let go of Iori, put his hands in his own lap, looked down on them and nodded. Seeing that Riku had calmed down now, Iori started to get off the bed in order to get ready for the day, however, Riku grabbed onto his shirt, looking like he still had something to say, so Iori stayed. “I was just thinking, what if it’s all connected?” Riku asked and looked at Iori, his expression serious. “What if what’s connected?” Iori asked, not sure what Riku was talking about. 

“The fire yesterday and the assassination of the Myronian queen! I know it’s a long shot, but just think about it. Yesterday, I saw, or at least thought I saw, a person holding a big, black bird, possibly a raven, while being engulfed in fire. The sigil my brother found on the letter ordering the queen’s death also had a bird and fire on it! Although, on the sigil it looked like the bird was breathing fire… Don’t you think it’s a weird coincidence? That both incidents had something to do with both a fire and a bird?” Riku tried explaining his theory to Iori, but the other wasn’t really buying it. 

“I don’t know, it seems a bit farfetched? Why would someone cause mayor incidents like these in both countries? What’s there to benefit from it? If they only targeted one country it’s understandable, but why both? Whose side are they on? And you’re basing this only on what you think you saw last night, even when you’re not even certain it was real?” Iori questions, which made Riku frown. 

“Look, I know it’s not a solid theory, I’m just saying we shouldn't write it off as irrelevant. If the two incidents ARE connected, then you’d have to go about investigating them completely differently from how it’s been done so far. Just, maybe we could keep in mind that it might be a possibility, or something.” Riku said at last. Iori sighed but still gave the other a smile. “Well, it’s not like we’re investigating it anyway, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to keep it in mind. Will you tell your brother about this? Isn’t he part of the Myronian investigation unit?” Iori asked. 

“Yeah, I’ll definitely tell him about what happened, as well as what I saw, but I think I’ll let him draw his own conclusions from it. He’s really smart so if it’s important, he’ll figure it out.” Riku said with a smile. After this, the two got out of bed and started getting ready for whatever was to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was that, I hope you liked it! As usual, I'll be back on Wednesday with the next chapter, so look forward to that! Thank you so much for reading, and thank you for leaving kudos and comments as those mean the world to me! <3<3<3


	19. The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything's a bit messed up after what had happened the night of the gala, but life goes on, and so does Iori and Riku's journey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new chapter, hopefully you'll enjoy this as well! Also, @elpimmm on twitter made another piece of art, and it's ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS so be sure to check it out: https://twitter.com/EFagerhag/status/1100784520134037505  
> If you want to find me on any social media you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Originally, the plan had been to stay a day or two after the gala had ended in order to make sure that everything returned to normal. However, with the events that had unfolded the night of the event, Iori and Riku were forced to stay for five days rather than one or two. They had been talking to multiple people, giving their own versions about what had happened that night. 

Iori and Riku had agreed that Riku should tell everyone who asked about what he had seen in the flames that night, as long as he also told them that he was close to passing out at the time. They also agreed not to tell anyone about the possible connection between that and what had happened in Myronia, other than to Tenn.

Iori had been exchanging letters with his parents, letting them know how the situation progressen from there. They had been shocked at first, as well as concerned for the two, making sure on multiple occasions that they were both fine. They had of course agreed that they should stay a bit longer to help clear up the incident. 

In fact, Iori was writing another letter right now, telling his parents that they had just finished their business in the capital, as they’d given their last statement earlier that day. He was going to let his parents know that they had no further business in Northmeir and that they were coming home. 

It was at this moment that Riku came into the room, a tray with some warm tea in his hands. He smiled, put the tray down on the table and sat down in the chair opposite of Iori. “I thought you’d like some tea, it was so cold outside today.” Riku simply said and picked up his own cup. Iori smiled at the other and thanked him. “Thank you, that’s really sweet.” He then went back to writing as he was sipping the warm liquid. 

It was at this moment that Iori got an idea. He immediately stopped writing and looked up at the other. “I was thinking, we’re already finished here, we have no further work that needs to be taken care of and we don’t need to answer any more questions about what happened at the gala. We just need to pack up and get a ride, and then we can leave.” He started. When Riku heard this, he looked a bit disappointed, Iori could see that he had really enjoyed staying in the capital, despite the incident that had occurred. 

Riku knew that they had to leave sooner or later, he just felt freer here, he didn’t have to keep up the act as often, as most of the time, he was either alone or with Iori. He had also yet to explore all of Northmeir, and he was really excited to see more. He wasn’t about to complain though, they’d already stayed for longer than they had planned, and he would most likely get another chance to come back in the future. “Okay, when do you want to leave then? Later today? Tomorrow?” He asked Iori. 

Iori just gave Riku a sly smile in return, Riku wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but he assumed Iori had something on his mind and decided to just hear him out for now. “How about we take a little detour on our way home? Remember how I said I’d take you to Iroche? In order to get there, we would have to go via Northmeir anyway, and mom and dad said there was no need for us to hurry and get back, so what do you say? Want to go to Iroche for a while, before heading back home?” Iori asked. 

Hearing the suggestion, Riku’s entire face lit up with the brightest smile. “Really? We could really go? I’d love to!” Riku exclaimed happily, but then his face turned sour again. “But would your parents really be okay with it? I mean, the only reason they told us not to hurry was because of the incident, right?” Riku asked a bit wary, not wanting to get too excited and then being turned down. 

“It’s probably fine. Besides, we never had a honeymoon, right? We just stayed at home after we got married, so if I told mom we wanted one, we could probably use that as an excuse to get away for another week or two.” Iori said while smiling. “And when I mentioned it last time, you seemed to get really excited, so I thought it could be a good idea. We’d get a chance to get to know each other better, without a bunch of prying eyes, it could be really helpful in the future.” Iori continued. 

Riku nodded and smiled again, now he was really getting excited. Going to the capital had been like a dream come true for Riku, but ever since Iori had told him about the library in Iroche, he longed for it more than anything else. He was so excited for this, and so thankful to Iori for thinking about this, for constantly thinking about him. 

It was early in the morning the next day and Riku was taking a short walk before leaving, since they’d be spending about nine hours in a carriage going to Iroche. Everything was packed and Iori was currently making some last-minute preparations, so while Riku was left to his own devices, he decided he’d stroll through the neighborhood. 

After having walked for about two minutes he heard the sound of something falling over from behind him. He turned to look at what had made the noise and saw that a crate had fallen over, however, he didn’t see anyone there. Riku thought that it had probably just been a stray cat or dog that was running around and ignored it as he kept walking. However, soon he heard something again, but this time the sound had definitely been made by a human. It sounded like the person in question was in pain. 

When he turned around for the second time, he saw a familiar little girl sitting crouched down on the ground, holding onto her knee. It was Kinako, the young, homeless girl Riku had met soon after he and Iori had arrived in Northmeir. Riku walked over and kneeled down in front of her while smiling at the little girl. “Hello there, are you alright?” He asked. 

Kinako looked up as soon as she noticed that someone was in front of her and immediately tried to collect herself. “Of course I am! This is nothing!” She said sternly before standing up and starting to run away, she didn’t get far though, before Riku grabbed her wrist. “Wait, let me have a look at that, I may not look it, but I know quite a lot about health and medicine.” He said while lightly pulling the hesitant girl back towards him. The two moved out of the way, since they’d been standing in the middle of the street before and sat down on a bench on the side of the road. 

“Okay, show me your knee.” Riku said, and Kinako complied, propping her right leg up on Riku’s lap. There was a small cut on the side of it, and the area around the cut was starting to bruise. “What happened?” Riku asked. “I… bumped into a stand while I was following you…” Kinako answered shyly as she blushed and looked away. 

Riku smiled slightly before pulling out his handkerchief and a water bottle he had been carrying. He poured some water onto the cloth and started cleaning the cut, which made the little girl wince in pain before relaxing. “So, why were you following me?” He asked, which made her tense up. 

“I swear it’s nothing bad! And I didn’t come to ask for anything! I just… wanted to say thank you.” Kinako said quietly. This shocked Riku, he stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her. She then started talking again. “I mean, I remembered that I didn’t thank you for what you did last time, but then you looked so busy all the time and I didn’t want to be a bother… But when I saw you today it looked like you were leaving so I decided I had to say it today!” Kinako exclaimed, a determined expression plastered on her face. 

Riku smiled and put the soaked handkerchief to the side. “Well, you are welcome, it was the least I could do. It was very nice of you to think to come back and thank me, you’ve got more manners than most.” He told her before pulling out a small package. It was a piece of bread wrapped in some fabric. He held out the bread to the girl and said, “Here.” She took it, albeit hesitantly, quietly thanking him again. Riku then shook the fabric that the bread had been in before wrapping it around Kinako’s injured knee. 

“There we go, try and clean it every morning and evening until it heals. Don’t scrub it too hard though, or you might open it up again. I don’t think it will leave a scar, so as long as you keep it clean and make sure not to open it up too much again, you’ll be just fine.” He said while smiling. Kinako nodded as she moved her leg back onto the ground, away from Riku’s lap. 

The two sat in relative silence while Kinako finished eating her bread. Once she was done, she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them close while burying her face in them. Riku looked over, concern all over his face. He placed a hand on Kinako’s shoulder and asked if she was okay. “Kinako-chan, is something wrong? Does it still hurt?” She only shook her head in reply. 

After a short while she looked up at Riku, eyes glossy with unshed tears and a sad expression on her face. “Do you really have to leave? I know we only talked once before, but you are so nice! Most people either ignore me or do mean things… Even if I only watched from afar, I liked that you were here… I don’t want you to leave…” She said and suddenly she couldn’t hold back her tears anymore, they streamed down her cheeks and she started sobbing loudly. 

Riku was, once again, taken aback by this girl’s behavior. He wasn’t sure what to do in this situation, but people were beginning to stare, and he did feel bad for her. So, he pulled her closer to him, enveloping her in a hug while rubbing circles onto her back and whispering reassuring words into her ear. They rocked back and forth like this for a while, until Kinako calmed down and stopped crying. 

“I’m sorry… I must be bothering you, even though you only helped me out of pity, I ended up getting attached and now I’m just getting in your way.” Kinako said, pouted and looked away. Riku smiled at her softly and cupped her cheeks in his hands. “That’s not true. You’re not bothering me at all. And I didn’t just do it out of pity, no one should have to live like you do, and if I have enough to give away, then why shouldn’t I give it to someone who not only wants it, but also really needs it? I just wish there was something more I could do to help.” Riku said. 

Kinako smiled. “Thank you, really. I’m very, very grateful.” She told him. Riku smiled brighter and patted her head. “That’s a good girl.” He then stood up and held out his hand. “I believe it is time for me to leave soon, will you walk me to the carriage?” He asked her. Kinako nodded and took ahold of Riku’s outstretched hand. 

At first, they walked in silence, but after about a minute, Kinako spoke up. “Will you come back sometime?” She asked. Riku wasted no time in giving her an answer. “Well, I believe so. At the very least, I would love to come back here sometime. If you told me where you live, I could maybe come find you when I do.” He said, before remembering that she might not have anywhere to go to, and instantly felt bad. 

Kinako however, didn’t seem bothered by this, in fact, she seemed quite happy. “Really? Well, I live in a shelter with some other people who are like me, it’s at the end of that street where we first met, do you remember?” She said and Riku nodded. “Although, you never know, I might not be there when you come back…” She then said, a sad tone in her voice which made Riku’s heart clench. 

“Well, even if you’re not there, I’ll do my best to find you, it’s a promise!” He said with a big smile. He then held out his pinky finger. Kinako brightened up immediately upon seeing this and linked her own pinky with Riku’s. “It’s a promise!” She said happily. 

They soon reached the carriage, and upon seeing the two of them, Iori was a bit surprised, as he didn’t recognize the child. Riku simply told him that he would explain later. He then bent down, gave Kinako a big hug and sneaked a few silver coins into her hands. He winked at her before patting her head and sending her off. She quickly took off down the street, but before she disappeared behind a corner she turned around, waved, smiled, and called out, “Goodbye!” 

Riku and Iori then checked one last time that they had everything, said goodbye to all the workers, as well as Nagi and Yamato who had come to say their goodbyes before the two left. They then entered the carriage and it started rolling down the streets of Northmeir, and with that, their visit to the capital was over, and a new adventure began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, the end of the Capital arc! Can I even call it an arc? Oh well, I'm doing it! Anyway, are you excited for Iroche? And what do you think about Kinako? I hope you enjoyed reading this update and I'll be back with a new one on Saturday! I hope you're looking forward to it! Thank you for reading, as well as leaving kudos and comments, they mean a lot to me! <3


	20. Iroche

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori and Riku begin their journey to Iroche, will it go smoothly, or will something unexpected happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again, have you all had a good week? Also, HAPPY (early) BIRTHDAY TO OUR PRECIOUS IZUMI MITSUKI!!! <3 It's still only the second in Sweden when I'm posting this, but I know that in some places it's already the third! ^^ Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this new chapter! If you want to contact me, you can do so via Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or via Twitter: @EFagerhag

It had only been a couple of minutes since Riku and Iori left Northmeir and they could already see the city shrink in the distance. The journey ahead of them was quite long, but it felt nice to be on the road. While Riku didn’t really want to leave Northmeir, he was also extremely excited to go to Iroche. So far, the journey had been silent, neither had said anything to the other, both content to simply do their own thing. However, Iori had been wondering something since they left, and he took this one chance to ask Riku about it.

“So, that child seemed quite attached to you, who was she?” Iori asked. He had been really shocked when he saw Riku return to the carriage with a small girl in tow. He had never seen her before, and Riku had never mentioned a child, but from her behavior, Iori assumed that had not been the first time Riku had met this girl. 

Riku smiled upon hearing Iori’s question, he had noticed Iori’s shock and confusion from the start and had kind of enjoyed throwing him off like that. Iori seemed so collected most of the time, so it was kind of funny to make him loose his cool like that. Iori, at first, appeared to be annoyed by the sly look on Riku’s face, especially since Riku had yet to actually answer his question. Riku soon decided to give in and explain the situation. 

“I first met her a few days after we had arrived in Northmeir, remember when you asked me to run those errands on the square? I bumped into her on my way back, she tried to steal my wedding ring.” Riku said matter-of-factly. Iori gave him a dead-panned look. “She tried to steal your wedding ring? And now you are suddenly best friends with her?” He asked. Riku chuckled fondly and smiled at Iori. “It’s not like that. She’s homeless, doesn’t have anywhere to go. I felt bad for her, so I gave her some food and a bit of money after I got my ring back. She did apologize for trying to steal it after all, she’s not a bad kid, she just got used to living in a bad environment. It's horrible... Did you know she’s only five years old?” Riku explained. 

Iori didn’t really know what to say, he didn’t know whether to scold Riku for being reckless or to praise him for having helped someone in need. He settled for, “That really is horrible, but you need to be careful with that sort of thing, you know... What if she keeps coming back for more? Like a stray animal, if you feed it once, it might make a habit out of begging food off of you.” 

Riku scoffed. “Well, she never asked for anything like that, and even if she had, I would’ve gladly given it to her! She needs it more than any of us do!” Iori was taken aback by Riku’s exclamation, he hadn’t expected the other to get so upset by his previous statement. “I didn’t mean it like that! I know she needs it, but you can’t just give everything away, or you’ll end up having nothing left!” Iori said sternly, not sure what else to do in this situation. 

Riku couldn’t believe what Iori was saying, he had always been so kind to Riku, despite the circumstances, so Riku had just assumed he was just kind like that to everyone. “You’re one of the richest families in Pandragora, and yet you get mad at me for giving away one small pouch of food and a handful of coins to a five-year-old girl who had noting? She was living on the streets, Iori! And yet you’re treating her like she’s a stray cat carrying some disease? What the hell is wrong with you?” Riku exclaimed angrily. 

Iori knew he had fucked up, but he didn’t really know how to take it back, he felt bad for what he had said, but he still felt like he wasn’t completely in the wrong in this situation. Not being sure how to solve this, he stayed silent, not wanting to say anything to risk making it worse, but he was also afraid that if he tried to make it better, Riku would just get angrier. 

“Oh, so you’re ignoring it now, are you? Well, two can play that game!” Riku said, he had been upset by what Iori had said, but he was more surprised than anything. He didn’t think Iori would get so angry with him for something so small like that. After that, Riku stayed true to his words, the rest of the journey was spent in awkward silence that neither of them knew how to break. Riku was still pissed off and ignored Iori’s very existence, while Iori couldn’t bring himself to do that and cast worried glances at the other from time to time. 

The journey had been long and torturous for both boys, they had both stayed silent throughout the entire thing, neither wanting to be the first to apologize to the other. It had been extremely awkward, which had made the journey seem a lot longer than it had actually been. By the time Iori and Riku arrived in Iroche the sun had almost completely set and the greatest source of light was the lanterns along the road, and the snow that covered the ground made the light seem even brighter than it really was. 

Riku got out of the carriage before Iori even had the chance to stand up, but the moment he got outside he stopped. The streets and roofs were covered in snow and there were lights in multiple colors along the streets as well as on the walls of the buildings, lighting up the city in the most beautiful way possible. There had been snow in Northmeir as well, but only a thin layer, this was different, it was unlike anything Riku had ever seen before. 

Riku unconsciously started walking down the street, mesmerized by the sights in front of him. He hadn’t made the same mistake as he did when they traveled to Northmeir and was currently dressed very warmly. He just kept walking and walking, taking in his surroundings. Everything was just so beautiful. 

Iori, who had followed Riku out of the carriage, was currently unloading their baggage and once he was finished, he turned to the side. He thought that maybe it was time to start talking to, and probably apologize as well, to Riku. However, when he turned around, the redhead was nowhere to be found. Iori walked around the carriage at first, then he went inside the hotel where he had booked a room for them and asked the person at the desk if they’d seen a young woman with red hair enter the building. They had not. 

It was at this point that Iori started to get worried, he had thought that maybe Riku had been angry and headed up to their room before him, but obviously, that wasn’t the case. He wasn’t anywhere near the carriage either. “Riku?! Where are you?” Iori yelled, hoping to get a reply, or that Riku would at least show himself. He knew the other was angry with him, but would he really just run away the moment they got to their destination. 

Iori told their driver to get their stuff up to their room while he went to look for Riku, and then he took off down the street. He had missed it at first, being in a little bit of a panic, but when he looked again he could clearly see footsteps in the snow on the ground. Hopefully, they would lead him to Riku. It was snowing, but not too heavily, so Iori determined that it would probably be about an hour or two before the footsteps disappeared. However, he soon reached a road that seemed to have been quite busy until just I little while ago, there were now multiple different footsteps on the ground and Iori had no way of determining which belonged to Riku. 

“Riku?!” Iori called out again, hoping to get a reply this time, but he was once again only met with silence. He looked around, which way could Riku have gone? Why had he left in the first place? Sure, he might have been quite mad at Iori, but did he really have to run off? It was his first time in Iroche, he knew nothing about the place, what if he got lost? Or fell and hurt himself? Or was attacked? 

It was at this point that Iori saw something in the distance. Over the rooftops, a single, taller building could be seen, Iroche’s library. Iori recalled how he had told Riku about it and how excited the other had gotten. Maybe Riku had tried to go there? Iori decided to try his theory out and immediately took off in the direction of the library. 

He didn’t get very far, however, as he soon reached the square and saw exactly who he had been looking for. In the center of the square stood Riku, looking up at the statue that adorned the place with wide, gleaming eyes and a bright smile. “Riku!” Iori called out as he was running over to the other. 

Riku was admiring the statue in the middle of the square he had stumbled upon, it was beautiful craftsmanship and he wondered what sort of meaning it held to the city. He then heard Iori calling out to him and frowned, however, once he turned around to face the other his expression changed to one of guilt. Iori looked extremely worried and stressed, and Riku realized that he had just wandered off without telling anybody, which was most likely the source of Iori’s worries. 

The next thing he knew, Iori had stopped in front of him and grabbed onto his shoulders, hard. His expression was no longer filled with worry and concern, it was anger. “What the hell were you thinking?! Why would you wander off like that by yourself?! I was so worried something had happened to you! Is it really that hard to stay put for a couple of minutes?! Why did you just leave?!” Iori was yelling at him, and Riku had never seen him like this before. He didn’t like it, it was actually kind of scary. 

Riku looked down at the ground, completely forgetting how mad he had been at Iori before. “I’m sorry…” He said quietly, his voice shaking slightly and his breathing starting to get a bit uneven. Iori noticed this and immediately felt bad for getting so angry. He loosened his grip on Riku’s shoulders, but instead of letting go, he hugged the other man close to his chest. “Don’t worry me like that.” He said in a much calmer voice. 

A minute passed, and then Iori regained his cool. He pulled away from Riku and looked down on the ground, feeling quite bashful and awkward after the entire ordeal. “Look, I’m sorry I yelled at you, I didn’t mean to come off as so angry, you just had me worried.” Iori said, trying to break the awkward atmosphere that had settled between them. 

Riku still didn’t look at Iori, in fact, he wasn’t sure where he should look. Everything felt extremely awkward and Riku didn’t like it. Iori had suggested they walk back to the hotel before Riku could start talking, to which Riku had nodded and then the two slowly started making their way back. After a while, Riku figured he should probably say something back to Iori. “You know, I didn’t mean to make you worried, I didn’t even realize I’d walked so far away. My feet were kind of moving on their own. I'm sorry.” 

Iori looked over at Riku as the redhead was talking. “It’s okay, just, maybe let somebody know when you do that next time? And I’ll do the same, it might get troublesome if we get lost, or something.” Iori said. Riku nodded upon hearing this and then it became silent again. They may have resolved the issue of Riku wandering off, but the argument from earlier was still fresh in both boys’ minds and they weren’t exactly sure how to proceed from there. 

They could now see the hotel in the distance, and somehow, this made Iori feel like he had to say something, that he had to clear everything up and make it all okay again. Or at least try to. He stopped and grabbed onto Riku’s arm, lightly this time so as if trying not to scare the other again. Riku stopped in his tracks once he felt Iori’s grip on his wrist and turned to the other with a questioning look. 

“Listen.” Iori started. “Earlier today, I’m sorry about what I said. It was insensitive and I wasn’t trying to say that you did anything wrong. It’s just… When I was younger I did the same thing. There was a guy about my age who claimed he lived on the streets and I used to give him treats and the like. Except, it turned out he was actually the youngest son of the local doctor and that he had just tricked me. I didn’t want that to happen to you, but I guess I might have overreacted.” Iori tried to explain, he didn’t know if the story would make a difference, but right now, he just felt like the entire thing had been a bit stupid and that he should at least try and make up with Riku. 

As Riku listened to Iori’s story he started to understand more. “Apology accepted, I guess. I’m sorry too, I acted like I thought you were a heartless bastard back in the carriage and you didn’t deserve that, because that’s the last thing you are. But that girl, Kinako, she never asked for anything. The reason she came to find me again today was because she realized that she had forgotten to say thank you properly.” Riku, in turn, explained what had happened with Kinako. 

Iori smiled. “She sounds like a sweet girl.” Riku smiled back and agreed, and after that the two once again started walking back towards the hotel. Riku offered to introduce Iori to Kinako the next time they went to Northmeir, granted they would be able to find her, to which Iori agreed. Conversation that night was still a bit more awkward than usual, but Iori and Riku were both relieved that they’d made up as fast as they had. And with that, their first night in Iroche officially came to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to think of this as their first fight, I know they had some (sort of) fights/dilemmas in the beginning, but they barely knew each other and were under a lot of stress... Anyway, I hate making these two fight, or be on bad terms, so I had them make up again in the same chapter... ^^ I hope you liked this and I'll be back on Wednesday with the next update, I hope you're looking forward to that!  
> Thank you so much for reading, and if you leave kudos or comments, know that it makes me the happiest ever and I truly appreciate each and every one of them! <3


	21. Safe and Happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori and Riku spend some time together in Iroche.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, I'm back with a new chapter! ^^ I hope you all enjoy this update!  
> If you want to reach me anywhere, I'm on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com and on Twitter: @EFagerhag

“Come on, Iori! Hurry up! Why are you so slow?” Riku called out while practically jumping up and down with excitement. Iori smiled fondly and chuckled at the sight. “I’m almost finished, just hang on a minute!” He replied, earning a groan from the redhead in return, which only made his good mood increase.

It was their first actual day in Iroche and Riku couldn’t wait to go out into the streets and see and try all there was to do there, and, of course, to finally visit the famous library he’d heard so much about. Since they didn’t have any work to do while they were staying in Iroche, the two had a lot of time on their hands to just have fun and get closer to each other. 

Their earlier fight was completely forgotten, as the two had talked it all out and properly apologized to each other the previous night. They were staying in a nice little hotel in the outskirts of the town, which wasn’t very big to begin with. The room was very cozy, with wooden floors, yellow walls, a big and soft bed for the two of them, a small table with an accompanying sofa and armchairs, as well as a big fireplace. 

They had both woken up quite early that morning, and the moment they did, Riku were out of the bed and getting ready for the day. Iori had taken it much more slowly, even going as far as to go downstairs and bring them breakfast from the dining hall. However, Riku had finished much sooner than Iori and was currently waiting impatiently by the door for the other to finish getting ready and join him. 

“Ugh, how long can it possibly take? I had so much more to do, so how come I’m the one who has to wait for you?” Riku complained impatiently. Iori, who had just finished packing his things for the day, turned around and finally started heading over to the impatient redhead. “Well, excuse me for wanting to do things properly, besides, your dress is all wrinkled, so who has to wait for who now?” Iori said cheekily, making Riku puff his cheeks out in what Iori assumed was his attempt at looking angry, however, if you asked him, it only looked adorable. 

Riku made a ‘humph’ sound and ran over to the mirror, straightening out his skirt a bit and then walked back over to the door. “Do I look presentable enough for you now?” He asked, his tone a bit irritated but also amused. Iori smiled and shook his head at the other’s antics. He then reached out and took ahold of Riku’s hand. “Let’s just go.” He then said, which made Riku extremely delighted. 

The two headed downstairs and greeted the old lady who was sat at the reception desk before leaving the hotel and going into town. Once they were out in the streets they stopped for a while. “So, what’s on the agenda for today?” Riku asked happily. 

“Well, I was thinking of just giving you an overall tour of the city? It’s pretty small, so, depending on how many stops we make, it’ll probably take three to four hours. After that we could get some lunch and then head over to the library? Since that’s kind of the centerpiece of this whole town, and what I believe you’ll enjoy the most, so I thought we’d save that for last so that you can stay as long as you'd like. Does that sound okay to you?” Iori asked. He hadn’t really had time to plan anything, so he hoped Riku would accept what he had so hastily come up with earlier that morning. 

Based on the way the other was acting, Iori concluded that Riku didn’t see any faults in the plan, in fact, he seemed to be really happy with it. “That sounds great! So, where to first?” Riku asked excitedly. Iori pointed down the road, to which Riku responded by pulling the other man down said street. 

They walked around the city while chatting about different things, and every once in a while, Iori would stop them in order to talk about something that was special about the place. Riku would also make random stops at times, as he was extremely easily distracted. Throughout the entire walk they held hands. Over the course of the past week, the two had been indulging in quite a lot of physical contact, since they’d been around other people quite a lot. So much so that this no longer felt like a big deal to them. Both of them had been fascinated by how comfortable they had grown to be around each other. What had started out as a rocky, uncomfortable and awkward relationship had slowly turned into a very strong bond, even more so than either were really willing to admit. 

They stopped about three hours later, not because they were tired, but Riku’s stomach had growled rather loudly, telling them that it was probably time to go get something to eat. “How about this place? They make some very good soup, and their apple pie is to die for, it even rivals our own.” Iori said, gesturing to a restaurant located a little bit down the street. Riku looked at it and made a weird face at first, which made Iori a bit hesitant. Did the other not like soup? Or was it the apple pie? No, that couldn’t be the case, Iori had seen the other happily eat either of those things before. 

“We’re not going to be eating at one of your restaurants?” Riku questioned, which made Iori a bit shocked. “Well, I mean, we could? I just thought that maybe we should try something different? And I just recalled that I quite liked the food at this particular restaurant.” Hearing this suddenly made Riku flush, he opened his mouth as if trying to say something, but he seemed to be unable to formulate a proper answer. 

Riku soon averted his gaze and decided that there was something extremely interesting to look at on the ground. “I-I just… You know, I just assumed that we would eat your food. I don’t mind going to that other place! It’s just…” Riku said in his flustered state before trailing off. Iori raised an eyebrow. “It’s just…? What?” Iori asked with a light chuckle at the end, it was somehow incredibly endearing to see Riku so flustered. 

“Well, you guys make really good food… Like, it’s actually the most amazing thing I’ve ever eaten, and you’re all so good at cooking! What’s up with that? And now I feel like I’m getting really spoiled with food, because I can’t think of anything that’s better than yours and I just… Sorry, that was kind of embarrassing, huh?” Riku rambled while still facing the ground. 

Hearing the praise, even though it was technically directed at his entire family, made Iori blush as well. “W-well, thank you. That makes me very happy to hear.” Iori said. Riku nodded, still feeling shy and refusing to meet Iori’s gaze. In the end, the two had ended up going to the restaurant that Iori had recommended, however, not without a promise that Iori himself would cook something for Riku that very night. 

“Oh my god, I can’t believe a place like this exists!” Riku exclaimed as he gazed up at the building in front of them. He and Iori had finished lunch a while ago and had finally headed over to what Riku had been looking forward to the most, Iroche’s library. The library was the biggest building in the entire city, it was almost as big as the Izumi family’s mansion, which was saying something as their house was huge. 

The two walked up to the big wooden gate and Iori let go of Riku’s hand in order to push the heavy door open. They walked inside and as soon as Riku took his first step inside the ginormous building he stopped. He looked around, but no matter how much he tried to fathom that this place actually was real, he couldn't wrap his brain around it. It was a six-story tall building and every single floor was filled to the brim with books. Some of them were so old that they were almost falling apart, while some had been published just a few weeks ago. 

As soon as the initial shock had worn off, Riku started wandering around, walking through the different rows of bookcases. Iori walked a little bit behind, not wanting to lose the other in the library in fear of not finding him again for multiple hours. It was something Iori had noticed lately, that whenever Riku got distracted by something, it was as if he forgot all about what he had been doing previously, giving all his attention to whatever new thing he had discovered. This had, more than once, resulted in Riku wandering off somewhere on his own, which led to Iori having to run around and look for the other in a worry. In fact, this was exactly what had happened yesterday, after they had just arrived. Iori didn’t really know whether to find it annoying or endearing. 

Riku had spent hours just walking around and exploring the library, while Iori had kept following after the other. In the end, Riku had picked up a book on the top floor and was currently reading it contently. Iori had done the same, however, he just couldn’t seem to concentrate, and he didn’t know why. This bothered him to no end. He sighed and put down the book, he wasn’t getting anywhere either way. 

Riku, despite having been so immersed in his own book, heard Iori sigh and torn his attention away from the story in his hands, looking up at Iori, who was now rubbing his temples and closing his eyes for a bit. Riku pouted a bit, he hoped Iori wasn’t pushing himself too hard to be there only because of Riku. “Are you okay?” Riku asked. 

Upon hearing the other talk, Iori looked up and met the other’s slightly worried gaze. He smiled at him. “I’m fine, just starting to get a bit tired.” He answered. “Hmm…” Was all Riku answered him with before turning his attention back to the book. However, he didn’t start reading again, instead he made a mental note of where he currently was in the book and then closed it. “We can head back if you want. Do you think I could borrow this? It was starting to get really good.” Riku asked Iori. 

Iori responded by smiling appreciatively at the other before nodding and standing up. He put the book he had been reading back on the shelf from where he had taken it and then held out his hand towards Riku, who in turn just looked at him confusedly. Iori sighed. “I’ll borrow the book for you, so give it here.” Iori said. Riku smiled at that and handed it over to Iori, after which they headed downstairs, borrowed said book, and started making their way back. 

Iori and Riku, who had initially been heading back to the hotel, soon remembered the promise Iori had made earlier that day, the promise to cook for Riku that night. Riku had felt a bit bad at first, seeing as the other seemed really tired. Iori had ensured him that he was fine, and that he would actually really like to cook something for them. So, without further ado, the two had headed towards the one restaurant the Izumi family owned in Iroche. It was much smaller than their other ones, but no less fancy. The restaurant was currently closed, so Riku and Iori had the entire place all to themselves. 

Iori had wasted no time in getting started, he had decided to make a quiche for the night and while he worked on this, Riku was sat in a corner of the kitchen, reading the book he had made Iori borrow for him from the library. The room was soon filled with the most wonderful smell, making Riku feel all warm and fuzzy inside. He realized that he really liked simple moments like these, it was during these times when he truly felt the safest. 

Once the quiche was done and Iori had finished setting the table, the two started eating. It tasted delicious and Riku was almost certain he had ascended to heaven right then and there. “I don’t understand how you can make a simple quiche this good, it’s out of this world!” Riku exclaimed. Iori looked away in embarrassment, however, Riku didn’t miss the tiny smile that was now present on his face. “I’m glad you like it.” Iori simply said, still not looking at Riku. 

Riku decided at that moment that he really liked this soft and flustered side of Iori and decided to test the waters, see how much he could make the other feel flustered. “I’m serious, if I keep eating your food, I bet I won’t be able to eat what others make anymore. You’d better take responsibility for that!” He said. The purpose had been to embarrass Iori further, and while it had indeed done that, it had also deeply embarrassed Riku once he realized the implications of what he had just said. 

For a short while, the atmosphere was a bit awkward, but sooner or later they finally regained the comfortable, happy and safe mood from earlier that day. And so, Iori and Riku’s first proper day in Iroche came to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was that! I thought these two deserved a bit of a break after everything that happened, and stay tuned, because on Saturday I'll be back with more of their activities and adventures in Iroche! I hope you look forward to that! Thank you so much for reading, and thank you to everyone who leaves a comment or kudos, or really just lets me know that this story is supported, I really appreciate each and every one of you! <3


	22. A Warm Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori takes Riku to one of the spots that are unique to Iroche.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new update! I hope all of you had a good week, and that the time that remains of it will also be good! ^^ I'm actually really excited for this chapter, it may be a little bit cliché, but I had a lot of fun writing it! With that said, I hope you enjoy it! If you want to find me anywhere else, I'm on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com and on Twitter: @EFagerhag

It was the fourth day of Iori and Riku’s stay in Iroche and nothing really eventful had happened so far. Riku had been spending almost all of his time in the library and Iori had to admit that maybe the redhead was there a bit too much for his liking. Iori loved reading, but he didn’t quite understand how someone could read nonstop from dusk until dawn. Because of this, Iori hadn’t always gone with Riku to the library.

Today was one of those days, it was mid afternoon and Iori was taking a walk through the streets of Iroche while Riku was back at the library. Throughout their stay, neither boy had done much of anything, mostly just taking some time to relax, and Iori had really enjoyed that. It wasn’t very often that he got to take breaks for extended periods of time, nor was it common for him to bring people along when he did go on breaks (and if he did, it was always his brother). He thought that he would be more bothered by it than he was in the end, being around Riku had shown itself to be quite easy and comfortable, he just hoped that the other felt the same way. 

Speaking of Riku, it was starting to get a bit late, so Iori should probably start heading back to the library and get him. Especially because of what was about to happen that evening. Other than the library, Iroche didn’t have much going on for itself other than the beautiful nature, so it wasn’t a very popular place for people to visit. However, they did have one other place that never failed to attract people from all over Pandragora, it even attracted some rich Myronian families. Iori had yet to tell Riku anything about it, but he had made plans for the two of them to go there together that very same evening, which was why he was currently on his way to pick the redhead up at the library. 

Finding him hadn’t been as difficult as he had originally thought, Riku was sat in one of the sofas in one of the corners of the first floor of the library. Iori walked up to him and poked him in the shoulder to get his attention. Riku looked up. “Iori?” Iori smiled and gestured for Riku to put his book down, which he did. “Sorry to interrupt, but we need to leave now. I made a reservation for the two of us somewhere tonight, and we need to get going there now.” Iori explained. 

Riku was a bit confused at first, Iori hadn’t mentioned anything about going away somewhere before, when had he planned this? “You made a reservation? Where?” He asked as he gathered his stuff and put the book back on the bookshelf from where he had gotten it. “It’s a surprise. The place is unique for Iroche, you won’t find anywhere else like it, no matter how much you look. We’ll also be spending the night, but I already packed your stuff from the hotel, so we can head over there directly from here.” Iori explained. 

Riku nodded and then the two were off, bidding the lady at the desk goodbye. “So… You won’t tell me where we are going?” Riku asked while nudging Iori in the side. Iori shook his head. “If I did it wouldn’t be a surprise. Don’t worry, it’s not far and you’ll notice once we get there.” He said. Riku pouted but didn’t complain about it further, instead, he just followed Iori’s lead. 

They walked for a bit and soon they’d exited the city. They continued along a small road out on the glacier and soon Riku could see a building up ahead. It was quite big, built out of wood and heavy smoke was coming out of the chimney. At least that’s what Riku thought it was. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that it didn’t come from the chimney at all, but rather, from the back of the building. Initially, this alarmed him, he thought there might be a fire, however, Iori was just as calm as before and surely, he wouldn’t take them somewhere with heavy smoke. This was when Riku realized what kind of place they were going to, what he saw hadn’t been smoke, it was steam. Iori was taking him to a hot spring! 

Riku turned to Iori, disbelief showing on his face. “Am I crazy, or are you taking me to a hot spring? In the middle of a glacier?! How is that even possible?” Riku asked, confused by it all. Iori simply smiled at him before explaining. “Yep, it’s a hot spring. You see the mountain in the back? That actually used to be a volcano in the past, but it’s become inactive over the last few decades. However, there’s still lava and magma flowing underground, warming everything up from underneath. To top it all off, about a hundred years ago, some people came across this natural water source, floods of water that didn’t freeze despite the temperature because it was being warmed up by the extreme heat coming from below. They built this place, and to this very day, it’s one of the most popular locations to visit in all of Pandragora.” 

Riku was stunned, he had no idea a place like this existed and thinking about how he was about to visit it made him extremely excited. Then he realized something that might make it a bit problematic. “Wait, but where do I go when we’re there? I mean, I obviously can’t go in the women’s section, and if I go to the men’s and there’s someone there who knows your family it’d be kind of bad, right?” Riku asked. 

Hearing the question, Iori looked away, a blush covering his cheeks. “Well, about that…” He said, feeling a bit flustered as he wasn’t sure whether this was a good idea or not. “I realized that before, so I made some arrangements. I managed to book us a suite, which is a lot bigger than the normal rooms, and they come with a private bath, so we won’t have to go into the public ones…” He said. 

Riku understood what had Iori feeling shy and became flustered himself. “Oh… Well, I uh, I guess that takes care of that dilemma…” He said awkwardly. “You know, if it makes you uncomfortable, we don’t have to go. I just thought it could be nice to go there, you know, since it’s such a unique place?” Iori said, not wanting Riku to get the wrong idea. 

Riku however, had already recovered and just shook his head while smiling. “It’s fine, I really want to go! I’ve never been to a hot spring before, so I’m very excited about this. Besides, we’re both male, so it doesn’t really matter, right? Thank you for thinking about me when doing the reservation!” He said. Iori felt a bit more at ease upon hearing this. He let out a sigh and then the two continued onwards towards their destination. 

Iori and Riku had arrived and checked in at the desk, and they were currently in their suite. The suite was located on the first floor of the building and was equipped with a double bed, a closet, a sofa and a table with two chairs. The room also had an adjoined bathroom with a toilet, a sink and a shower. It wasn’t the fanciest place they had been to, but Riku really liked it, he thought it felt homely. Along the wall opposite of the entrance there was another door that led outside. Riku immediately went over to said door and opened it. 

The first thing that hit him was the cold, they were still on a glacier after all, and Riku had already taken off his jacket. However, the cold didn’t last long as he was soon hit with the hot steam that came from the open bath just outside. Their bath was surrounded by a tall wooden fence so that nobody would be able to see them. “Iori, come look! It’s amazing! It’s so much bigger than I thought it would be!” Riku exclaimed while excitedly waving Iori over. 

Iori smiled fondly at the other’s antics, then sighed but walked over anyway. “You know I’ve been here before, right? Although, I suppose we never bothered getting a private suite before…” He said as he reached the other. Iori looked out over the bath outside and nodded to himself, thinking about how he had made the correct choice in getting a private room, the bath was spacious and nice, no one would bother them and Riku seemed happy and relaxed. 

Then, all of a sudden, they heard a knock on the door and a voice that said; “Room service!” Riku looked at Iori a bit confused. Iori simply made his way back inside, past Riku and headed towards the door, before he opened it though, he turned around to face the other. “I ordered dinner for us, you haven’t eaten anything proper since this morning, right?” He said with a smile. Riku nodded before also going back inside and closing the door leading out into the bath behind him. 

Iori opened the door, took the food that was handed to him and thanked the employee before once again closing the door. “That smells amazing!” Riku said as Iori walked over to the small table and put the plates down. “Right? This place actually has pretty good food.” He then said. Riku smirked and sat down. “But not as good as yours, right?” He asked. Iori just chuckled as he joined Riku at the table, sitting down in the chair on the opposite side of the table. “Right.” 

The two ate while chatting about trivial matters and soon the food was all gone. It was getting late so Iori suggested that they try the bath out before going to bed. Riku agreed and went into the bathroom in order to remove the wig and the make-up he was wearing. He was just about to go back into the bedroom when he suddenly started hesitating. Riku started feeling awfully self-conscious, and he wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like it was the first time Iori would see him undressed, although the only other time that had happened was when Iori had asked him to show him that he really was a man, but still. Deciding that he was just being silly, he braced himself, opened the door and walked into the bedroom. Only to see that it was empty. 

He looked around before he noticed that the door that lead outside was open, and thus concluded that Iori had already entered the bath. Riku walked outside, and sure enough, Iori was already emerged in the hot water. Upon hearing footsteps, Iori turned around to face Riku, who suddenly felt really flustered again. Riku smiled awkwardly and quickly entered the bath, which instantly made him feel way more relaxed than before. 

“How is it?” Iori asked him after a while. Riku looked at him and smiled. “It’s amazing! It feels so good and relaxing! Thank you so much for bringing me here.” Riku answered, and now that he thought about it, he really was grateful for what Iori had done for him, it was honestly a bit overwhelming. “It was nothing, I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” Iori answered. 

Riku looked down into the water and submerged himself in his own thoughts. Ever since the marriage, Iori had done so much for him, both before and after he found out the truth. Riku felt like he could never thank the other enough for this, and he also felt like he hadn’t done nearly enough for the other in return. He looked to the side, where Iori was sat, took a deep breath and braced himself for what he was about to do next. 

“Thank you…” He said, his voice trembling slightly. Iori raised an eyebrow and turned to face Riku. “You already thanked me, and I said it wasn’t a big deal.” He said with a gentle smile that made Riku’s chest feel tight. “Not for the trip, for everything.” He said, which took Iori by surprise. He sat up more properly and gave the redhead a questioning look. He then opened his mouth to ask Riku what was up, but he never got the chance to, as Riku brought his hands up and covered Iori’s mouth with them. 

“I really mean it! And don’t you dare say it wasn’t a big deal or that it was all natural, because that’s not true! Thank you for trying to make me feel more comfortable when I obviously wasn’t after the marriage, thank you for accepting me even though you knew I lied about my gender, thank you for showing me so much, thank you for constantly making sure I’m doing okay, thank you for caring and thank you for just constantly being so kind to me. I honestly don’t know what I could possibly do to repay you, but just know that I’m more grateful for all you’ve done than I’ve ever been before in my life. I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you… So, thank you.” 

Iori was stunned, he wasn’t expecting their time in the hot spring to lead to something this emotional, and he certainly hadn’t been expecting Riku’s declaration of gratitude. Before he could stop it, he felt something wet roll down his cheeks. Riku could see the tears and panicked, so Iori tried to calm him down. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m… I just wasn’t expecting you to…” He started, but he was too overwhelmed to formulate a proper reply. 

“Are you okay?” Riku asked, a bit worried about Iori’s reaction. Iori just nodded and tried drying his cheeks, which didn’t work very well since he was already wet. “Can I tell you something?” Iori then asked, catching Riku off-guard. The redhead nodded hesitantly. “Before the marriage, I wasn’t really afraid that I wouldn’t like you, because I thought that even if I didn’t, I could deal with it. But what really scared me about it was that you would be unhappy, that marrying me would make someone else sad, and I hated that thought. So, just being with you like this, seeing you enjoying yourself and relaxing, it’s really nice, because I was so afraid that I’d end up making you miserable.” 

This time, Riku was the one who started crying, Iori noticed but before he got the chance to comment on it, Riku started laughing. “Man, we have got to stop making each other cry!” He said, which made both of them laugh. “Honestly, I never thought that this marriage could make me happy. But being here with you, it’s a lot of fun, so you don’t need to worry about making me unhappy or miserable, because you’re constantly doing the opposite.” Riku said and smiled brightly at Iori. 

Iori couldn’t help but return the smile. “Thank you…” Iori whispered. “I don’t think either of us expected this marriage to be like this, and I definitely mean that in a good way. I think both you and I had worse expectations of what it would be like than what actually ended up becoming of it.” Iori continued and Riku nodded in agreement. 

The two soaked in the bath for a few more minutes after that, but soon got out of it and went back inside. After everything they’d just revealed and discussed, both were extremely tired and just wanted to sleep. They went to bed, feeling more lighthearted and happier than they had felt for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't originally planned a hot spring chapter, but then the idea hit and I was just like 'well, this is happening now.' Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, as I really liked writing it! Thank you for reading and I'll be back with a new update, as usual, on Wednesday! ^^  
> Thank you all so much for leaving kudos and comments and just supporting me and this story! It means a lot to me and I can never thank you enough! <3


	23. Worrysome News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori and Riku gets an unexpected visitor in Iroche, which leads to them having to drastically change their plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back again with a new chapter! I don't really have anything to say this time around, so just enjoy the update! ^^  
> If you want to find me anywhere other than on this site, you can do so either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK_  


Iori quickly sat up and looked around in confusion, he had been woken up by the sound of startingly loud banging on the door to the room he and Riku had been sharing for the night. “Young master Iori?” Could vaguely be heard from the other side of the door. Iori blinked and rubbed his eyes in order to wake himself up some more. He looked out the window and saw that it was still very early, as the sun had just begun to rise in the distance for today. Who would be at the door at this time in the morning?  


Iori heard more banging and flinched as it made Riku twitch in his sleep, Iori didn’t want to wake the other up, so he quickly got out of bed, threw a jacket over his shoulders and headed over to the door. He opened it and outside stood a middle-aged man looking slightly distressed. Iori immediately recognized him, he was working for his family, however, this particular man was supposed to be back in Lawlee. Something must have happened, and this thought instantly made Iori more awake. “What happened?” Iori asked seriously.  


“I’m sorry to cut your trip short, but your parents sent me here, they want you and your wife to come home as soon as possible, there’s a bit of a situation and they want you to come help dealing with it.” He explained. Iori was a bit worried and extremely confused. From what the man had said Iori could gather that something serious had happened, but he had no idea what it was. Before he had the chance to ask about it, the man at the door started talking again. “I’m having some people pack up your things back at the hotel in Iroche, there’s a carriage waiting for you outside, I trust that you and your wife will be downstairs as soon as possible.” He said. Iori nodded before closing the door.  


Iori sighed and drew his hand through his hair. He didn’t know what to expect, hopefully it wasn’t too bad, and they would be able to deal with whatever situation had arisen as soon as possible. They were still at the hot springs, so it must have been quite troublesome to find them. Iori supposed he should go and wake up Riku, he just wished that, after everything that had happened recently, he would have been able to give Riku a bit more time to relax properly.  


He walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge. Riku looked so peaceful, so free of worries that it sort of made Iori forget just how much had been going through the other’s mind recently. Iori absentmindedly reached out a hand and removed a piece of hair that had fallen over Riku’s face, moving it behind his ear, he then let his hand rest on Riku’s head, stroking it slowly while smiling softly. Iori then realized what he was doing and pulled his hand back as if it had been burned, his face flushing almost as red as Riku’s hair.  


Iori took a few moments to collect himself, and to make sure that the blush that colored his cheeks died down. He then reached out and gently shook Riku’s shoulder. “Riku? You need to wake up.” He said softly, yet loud enough for the other to hear.  


Riku’s face scrunched up and he groaned, rolling over in the bed, making Iori snort. “Riku, wake up.” Iori said a bit louder as he shook him again. “…What time is it?” Riku asked, his voice a bit hoarse after just waking up. “Early.” Iori answered, earning another groan from Riku in return. “Then can’t we sleep a bit longer?” He asked and buried his face in the pillows.  


Iori sighed and got up, starting to pack their things. “A messenger came by, something happened back at home, so mom and dad wants us to go back. A carriage has already been prepared and our things back at the hotel in Iroche are being packed up as we speak.” Iori explained. This made Riku more alert, as he sat up in the bed and looked at Iori with a worried expression. “Something happened? Do you know what exactly? Is it bad?” He asked as he got out of bed and went to get some clothes.  


“I’m not sure, I wasn’t told what had happened, just that we needed to leave as soon as possible.” Iori answered as he finished packing the last of their stuff, only then realizing that he had accidentally packed down his own clothes as well. He sighed and reopened the bag, getting it all out again.  


Riku watched worriedly from the other end of the room, he had never seen Iori this out of it before. If something happened to his family, Riku could understand his worries, they were all good people so Riku didn’t want anything to happen to them either. Riku had also realized that Iori hated when he wasn’t in control of a situation, so not knowing the whole situation must be stressing the other out.  


Riku walked over to Iori and put his hands on his shoulders, rubbing comforting circles on his back. “Relax a bit, I get that you’re worried, but there’s nothing we can do about the situation here. Let’s just get ready, pack up and head back to Lawlee, and then deal with the situation once we get back there. It won’t do you any good to stress out about it now.” He said calmly.  


Iori sighed and leaned back into Riku’s touch, somehow being around the other made Iori feel a whole lot better than he had before. “You’re right, I’m sorry.” He said while relaxing his shoulders. “You have nothing to apologize for, I understand, but let’s just get ready and head back, okay? You’re not alone, I don’t know how much I’ll be able to help, but I want to try and help you just like you have helped me.” Riku said while giving Iori a sincere smile.  


The two then got back to getting ready and packing, and about half an hour later they were downstairs, checking out of the hot springs and heading outside to meet with the man who had come for them. Iori and Riku climbed into the carriage and then they left Iroche to go back to Lawlee.

It was late afternoon and the sun had already started to set by the time Iori and Riku first saw Lawlee in the distance. Iori had stayed mostly calm on the way there, but the moment his home could be seen on the horizon, Riku could see the change in his behavior. The carriage came to a halt a few minutes later and the two stepped out of it, Iori immediately taking off towards the mansion. “Iori?!” Riku yelled after him, but to no avail. 

Riku sighed and was just about to follow after him when he spotted Tsumugi in the garden. He turned around and started heading over to her instead. “Tsumugi!” He called out to the girl, who whipped her head around at the sound of Riku’s voice. “Riku-san?” Tsumugi called his name, not having expected him to come to see her so soon. 

“What’s going on? Did something happen?” He asked her, worried about what she would say. “Well, I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong, something seems to be happening in Nesbury that’s worrying Mister and Madame Izumi.” She answered. “In Nesbury? Isn’t that where Mitsuki-san is? Did something happen to him?” He asked, feeling a bit scared, if something bad had happened to Mitsuki, Iori would be so hurt. 

Tsumugi shook her head and looked down on the ground, a sad and slightly worried look adorned her face. “That’s the thing, we don’t know. He suddenly stopped responding to Mister and Madame’s messages, in fact, they can’t reach anyone affiliated with the Izumi family who’s situated in Nesbury. They did contact the Osakas, whom Mitsuki were staying with, but apparently they won’t say anything about Mitsuki-san…” She explained. 

Riku swallowed and nodded. “Right… Thank you for telling me. It’s good to see you again, but I’d better go find Iori.” Riku said and bid Tsumugi farewell for now. She nodded and got back to her work while casting worried glances at Riku's retreating back. 

Finding Iori was a lot easier than what Riku had expected, the moment he had entered the mansion he heard raised voices coming from down the hallway directly to his right. One of them definitely belonged to Madame Izumi, which led Riku to believe that Iori was there as well. He walked over to the door and pushed it open, and just as he expected, inside were Iori along with his parents, who had most likely been telling him about Mitsuki. 

“Riku!” Madame Izumi exclaimed the moment she saw him, she then walked over and enveloped the redhead in a bone-crushing hug, catching him off-guard. At first Riku was alarmed, she had never hugged him like this before so he wasn’t sure why she had suddenly done so now, then he felt her shoulders trembling and realized that she must be shaken up since they didn’t know what had happened, if something had happened, to their oldest son. Riku brought his own arms around the woman and returned her embrace. 

“I heard about what happened from Tsumugi, you must be so worried, I know what it’s like…” Riku said while rubbing comforting circles on Madame Izumi’s back. Iori and Mister Izumi stood silently to the side, watching the exchange. Madame Izumi pulled back but kept her hands on Riku’s shoulders. “You do?” She asked, voice shaking slightly. 

Riku nodded. “I mean, I obviously don’t have any children, but my brother often left home for extended periods of time, and sometimes we could go weeks without hearing from him. I was always worried and afraid, but mom and dad always seemed so calm and composed, though I suppose they simply knew just how capable Tenn-nii is, after all, he always came back in the end.” Riku explained. Madame Izumi smiled at him and nodded. 

For a while after that Mister and Madame Izumi explained the situation to Iori and Riku in more detail, and the two just sat down and listened. After a while Iori spoke up. “Mom, dad, can I travel to Nesbury? I’ll find out if Nii-san is okay and why he hasn't been responding, then I’ll come right back.” He proposed. The couple looked at each other, a bit unsure whether they wanted their other son to go as well, but in the end they agreed. “Fine, but you need to be very careful, and take some people with you, and come straight back here once you find out what’s going on over there. Do you understand?” Mister Izumi said, Iori nodded and then they were dismissed. 

Iori walked up to his room and Riku followed him. Once they had entered, Iori flopped down onto the bed and let out a loud sigh. Riku joined him on the bed and gave him a sympathetic look. “How are you feeling? Are you really going to Nesbury?” He asked. “I am. If something happened to Nii-san, I don’t… I don’t know what I’d do…” Iori said quietly. Riku took his hand in his and squeezed, hoping to offer some comfort. 

“Okay, then I’ll go too.” He said. Iori shook his head. “I think you should stay here, it could be dangerous.” Iori said, which only earned him an almost offended look from Riku in return. “No way! I’m coming with you! I don’t care what you say, I’m not going to let you do this alone, we’re in this together, remember? You’ve done so much for me, so let me help you now that you need it!” Riku said stubbornly. 

Iori looked a bit hesitant at first and he was about to protest when he saw the determined look on Riku’s face. It made him change his mind. “Okay, fine.” He said with a sigh. Riku nodded. “I’ll ask if Tsumugi will come along as well, she may not look it, but she used to go hunting with her father a lot, she can handle herself. Besides, your parents said to bring some people along, right?” Iori nodded, agreeing to letting Tsumugi come along. 

Iori and Riku spent the rest of the day preparing, they asked some workers to come along, including Tsumugi who agreed immediately, they made some plans with the ones who would join them as well as Iori’s parents, they packed, and they made sure they were well rested. They’d be leaving the next morning. Iori prayed that his older brother was okay and Riku was just worried that Iori would do something stupid. In fact, Riku had a bad feeling about all of this, but he wasn’t about to back out now. He just hoped everything would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And things have now taken a turn! What will happen on their next adventure? You'll have to wait until Saturday to find out, I'll be back then, as usual, with the next chapter! I hope you enjoyed reading this update. ^^ And thank you to everyone who leaves kudos, comments or supports this story in any way!


	24. A Distressed Journey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori and Riku travel to Nesbury to find Mitsuki, and meet up with some friends along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new chapter! I don't really have anything to say, so enjoy! If you want to find me anywhere else, I'm on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com and on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Riku woke up early that morning, it was rare for him to do so before Iori, but this morning that had happened. Riku knew Iori hadn’t slept much that night, he had woken up multiple times from Iori getting in and out of the bed. Riku couldn’t help but think that it was all probably because of Mitsuki, Iori must be awfully worried about his older brother. Riku felt sympathetic, after all, he knew very well how that felt, what with Tenn always being away from home so much and constantly involving himself in different businesses.

Riku figured he should start getting ready for the day, and so he picked out a dress, put it on and went into the bathroom to fix his hair and makeup. Once he had finished and was back in his and Iori’s shared bedroom he saw that Iori still had not woken up. Riku was now torn between whether he should wake Iori up so that he too could start getting ready, or if he should let the other rest for as long as possible. He hated having to decrease the time Iori got resting, but he assumed Iori would prefer it if Riku woke him up early instead. So that is what Riku did in the end. 

Riku woke Iori up and then the two took care of some final preparations before heading downstairs to eat breakfast with Iori’s parents. The whole time, Iori was extremely quiet which made Riku a bit worried. He could see that the other had huge bags under his eyes, and he would often space out. “Iori, is everything okay?” Madame Izumi asked after a few silent minutes at the breakfast table, however, she did not receive a reply at first. 

Riku frowned and reached out, grabbing onto Iori’s arm and looking at him worriedly. “Iori?” He asked, making the other snap out of whatever thoughts had been on his mind. Iori blinked a couple of times and looked Riku in the eyes before turning to face his parents. Realization hit him once he saw their worried gazes, so he cleared his throat and tried to concentrate on just being present. “Sorry, what were you saying?” He asked. 

Madame and Mister Izumi shared a concerned look before turning back to their son, then Mister Izumi spoke. “We were asking if you were okay. You know we really appreciate you doing this, but if you don’t feel so good about it, we won’t force you.” He said. Iori swallowed and forced a smile onto his face. “I’m fine, I just didn’t sleep that well is all. And I want to go, so don’t worry about you forcing me, because you’re not.” He said. His parents didn’t look fully convinced, but they didn’t pressure him to talk about it anymore. 

They were just about to finish up when Madame Izumi seemed to remember something. “Oh, I almost forgot, Nikaido Yamato and Rokuya Nagi came by yesterday, shortly before you two returned. They also hadn’t heard from Mitsuki and wanted to see if he was okay. I heard they stayed the night in Segrel, so we arranged for you two to meet them there and then head the rest of the way to Nesbury together.” She explained. Iori and Riku nodded and the fact that these two were coming along actually made them both feel a little bit better about going. 

They all finished up the last of the food and then Iori and Riku went to grab the last of their own packing, as well as checking up on everyone that would be coming along. Riku and Tsumugi were standing by the carriages when Iori and Mister Izumi were carrying out the last couple of things that they would be bringing. After everything was loaded onto the carriages, they all said goodbye to Mister and Madame Izumi, as well as all of the staff that would be staying behind. Then they were all off, Iori and Riku had also allowed Tsumugi to ride in their carriage. 

About an hour had passed since they left and Riku and Tsumugi had been making small talk the entire ride so far while Iori was sat looking out of the window in deep thought. The other two noticed this, and once again Riku felt worried. He reached out and took Iori’s hand in his own. “Iori, are you really sure you’re okay? You know you can tell me about what’s on your mind, right?” Riku said, and before either boy could add anything to that, Tsumugi spoke up. “And I totally understand if you don’t want me to listen! I mean, if I could be of help, I would be honored to, but I would absolutely understand if you’d feel more comfortable if it was only Riku-san!” She told them, making Riku smile at her consideration. 

Iori was kind of stunned, Tsumugi had taken him sort of by surprise, in a good way of course. “It’s fine, you don’t have to go out of your way. We were the ones who asked you to join us in here in the first place, after all.” He said, then there was a short pause before he added something more. “But thank you.” Tsumugi smiled at Iori after hearing this. 

Iori took a deep breath, squeezed Riku’s hand that was still holding onto his own and looked down at his lap. “It’s nothing big, so you really don’t have to worry about it so much… It’s just that, as long as I can remember, no matter what happened, Nii-san was always there for me. It didn’t matter how big or small the problem was, he was always the one person I was closest to, the one person I could always count on to be there. I… I just don’t know what I’d do if something happened to him.” Iori said, his voice shaking slightly near the end. 

Riku could see tears threatening to run down Iori’s cheeks and wasn’t sure what to do about it. He couldn’t remember seeing Iori cry out of sadness before, he couldn’t really imagine it, and neither did he know how Iori would like to deal with it. Did he want to be comforted? Or maybe he just wanted them to ignore it? Riku decided to go with his gut and do what he would have wanted someone to do to him in that situation. He pulled Iori down for a hug, cradling his face in his own chest while one hand was stroking his hair and the other rubbing his back. He didn’t say anything, he simply tried to comfort the other with his presence. 

Iori had never appreciated an embrace as much as he did now. It made him feel warm and at ease, and Riku’s smell had gotten really comforting lately. He took a deep breath and wrapped his own arms around Riku’s waist, trying to calm himself down as much as he could. He thought back to their last night in Iroche, how Riku had thanked him for everything, and at this one moment, Iori imagined he felt just as thankful as Riku had, although he had no idea if this was true. He was just really glad to have the other with him right now. 

Tsumugi felt like her own presence was mostly forgotten as Riku was comforting Iori. However, she couldn’t help but smile at the scene that was unfolding before her. She could tell that Iori and Riku had gotten very close while they had been away and that they now seemed to feel a lot more comfortable around each other than they did before. She had known Riku for a long time, and knew that he had always felt quite lonely, and that he had always been missing something. She hadn’t known Iori long at all, but from what she had seen, he had been pretty reserved, only really opening up to his family, he too had most likely been missing something in his life. Looking at the two of them now, she felt like they had managed to find that special something in each other, and it made her happy beyond belief. 

Iori had soon calmed down, and after that, both he and Riku had apologized to Tsumugi time and time again upon realizing that they had kind of ignored her being there. She had, of course, insisted it was fine. After that the three had chatted together for a while, and before they knew it, they had arrived in Segrel. They were supposed to meet Yamato, Nagi and the rest of their company there, have lunch together and then be on their way. 

Segrel itself was actually very small, it couldn’t even really be seen as a proper town, just a small village. It mainly served as a settlement in between Lawlee and Nesbury, as the road between the two cities would be quite long without it. It had an inn, one restaurant, one shop and a very tiny church, the rest of it was all farms and private houses. Even though it was small, and none of the places were especially impressive, Riku still found it to be a rather cozy town. The nature surrounding it was very beautiful, with prospering fields to the south and a thriving forest to the north. It was the sort of place Riku could see himself retiring to once he got old and gray. A place with few people and that was close to the earth. 

They all exited the carriages and were immediately greeted by Yamato and Nagi, who were joined with what looked like eight royal guards. In hindsight, Riku guessed that made sense, considering Nagi was the prince of Pandragora, although when he first saw them, he had been quite taken aback. The company made their way over to the restaurant, and Riku was currently sat down at a table along with Iori, Nagi and Yamato. 

“So, Ichi, you haven’t heard from Mitsu either?” Yamato asked. Iori shook his head. “No, I got one message from him while we were still in Northmeir, but I haven’t heard from him since.” Iori said, after which both Nagi and Yamato exchanged worried glances. “This whole thing is just weird, but try and cheer up, Iori! After all, we don’t actually know if something’s wrong, so I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t draw any conclusions before you know the entire situation.” Nagi said, hoping to make Iori feel better. Iori smiled and nodded at the blonde prince in appreciation. 

“Have anything like this ever happened before?” Riku asked, looking at the others. They all seemed to take a moment to think about it before answering. Iori simply shook his head, Nagi answered; “Not that I know of.” And Yamato said; “Never heard of anything like it, no. But it’s not impossible that something similar happened before. My dad used to tell me a story about how he used to hate doing business in Nesbury as a child. Apparently, there was this legend that an evil sorcerer lived in a cave in the mountains to the north, and that he would kidnap naughty children who misbehaved. It had him really scared of wandering around alone. Looking back at it now, it was probably just an old wives’ tale to make sure that the children didn’t do bad things, but somehow, my dad has been convinced that there’s something dark hiding in Nesbury since then.” 

The other three at the table weren’t really sure how they should react to Yamato’s story, but then Nagi started laughing. “Oh Yamato, a sorcerer? There’s no way that’s true!” He said with a smile. Yamato frowned. “Hey, I never said I believed in it! I’m just saying, according to my old man, if there’s anywhere in Pandragora where these things tend to happen, it would be Nesbury.” He explained. “Well,” Iori started, he paused for a moment and then he added. "A few years ago, there was the incident where a group of miners disappeared in the mountains, right? I don’t know any details as I was only two years old when it happened, but maybe there’s something to what Yamato’s saying.” He finished. 

Riku raised an eyebrow. “You think there’s a sorcerer in the mountain?” He asked skeptically. “No, I don’t. But most stories aren’t purely fiction, there’s probably some semblance of truth in there. Even if there is no sorcerer, there might have been someone hiding up there.” Iori explained. The four kept on discussing things along these lines throughout the meal, and soon they were finished. 

They all walked over to the carriages and left Segrel behind, continuing their journey to Nesbury, where they’d end up finding lots of things, some of which they were searching for, some of which they were not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! I'll be back on Wednesday with the next chapter, in which they will arrive in Nesbury and pay a visit to the Osaka family... I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you'll be looking forward to the next! ^^ Thank you all for leaving comments and kudos, they mean a lot to me! <3


	25. The Osaka Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori and Riku, along with Nagi and Yamato, arrive in Nesbury. Their first stop in their search for Mitsuki is the Osaka family's mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Wednesday so I'm back with a new chapter! I personally am quite excited about this chapter, as I found it fun to write, it sort of just wrote itself. ^^ Anyway, I hope you enjoy this! If you want to talk to me somewhere other than AO3, you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com and on Twitter: @EFagerhag

The group had just arrived in Nesbury and Iori, Riku, Nagi and Yamato were on their way to the Osaka family’s mansion while the rest of the group got settled down at the inn they had reserved for a couple of days. Yamato and Nagi were talking about something, but neither of the other two were paying any attention to what they were saying. Iori was a bit fidgety, he was looking down every alley and every street they passed, as if he was looking for something or, more likely, someone. Riku couldn’t blame him, he was probably hoping to see his brother just standing on one of the streets.

Riku frowned at Iori’s behavior, he was starting to get worried about the other. Without saying anything, he reached out and grabbed Iori’s hand, catching the other’s attention. Iori blinked at him in confusion, Riku only smiled. “Relax, okay? It’s obvious that you’re on edge, and you being so fidgety isn’t going to be to our advantage. We’ll find Mitsuki-san, it’ll be okay.” Riku said and squeezed Iori’s hand harder, trying to comfort the other. Iori let out a shaky breath and nodded before he too tightened his hold on Riku’s hand, as if it was the only thing that kept him relatively calm. 

“We’re here.” Yamato said, catching the attention of the others who all looked ahead. In front of them was a very big house, about the same size as the Izumi mansion, with guards posted in front of the gate. Riku remembered how he had met their oldest son, Sougo, at the wedding. He also remembered thinking that he had been emanating a rather comfortable and calm atmosphere, it had made him feel at ease. Now, standing in front of his house, he felt the complete opposite. 

Riku gulped and started walking slowly as he felt Iori starting to pull on his hand, for some reason, Riku felt sort of intimidated. He pulled on Iori’s hand in return, making him look at him with a questioning look. “So, uh, what is the Osaka family like?” Riku asked. Iori looked deep in thought for a while before he turned back to Riku. “Well, they’re very… How do I put it? Serious? They’re very driven, and it’s always business with them. Or at least, with most of them. They can come off as a bit scary, but I promise, they’re not bad people, not really.” Iori explained. 

Riku nodded. “That was sort of the feel I got from this place, I was just a bit taken aback, when I met Sougo-san at the wedding, he didn’t seem anything like that, he seemed really nice and comforting to be around.” He said. Iori smiled and looked ahead. “He is nice, the nicest out of the Osaka’s. He’s always been kind of different than the rest of them, except for when he’s angry, believe me, you do not want to see an angry Osaka Sougo. I had nightmares for days.” Iori said with a shudder at the end. Riku looked at him skeptically, but didn’t argue, instead he simply nodded. 

The four came to a halt, they were now stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the house’s entrance. Nagi took it upon himself to give their names and errand to the guards that stood there. They were all let in without any difficulty, and once they were in, they were greeted by and elderly woman who told them she would take them to her master. They followed her through the corridors and stairs of the house until they stopped outside of a big, dark brown door. 

The door was opened, and they all entered the room, Riku didn’t know why but he suddenly felt like it got a lot colder. He shivered and clung on to Iori’s arm, holding it like a lifeline. Iori let him, giving him a reassuring smile in return. 

Once inside, they were met with a man who looked like he was in his fifties. He was quite tall, had very pale skin, thin grey eyes, light grey hair that was combed to the side, wore a dark blue suit and had a very stern expression adorning his face. He looked rather intimidating. “Well, well, what gives me the pleasure of having the prince visit me in my own home?” the man asked. Nagi smiled politely. “I believe you are already fully aware of our businesses here, Osaka Soushi.” He said, making the man, Soushi, frown. 

Osaka Soushi didn’t say anything, instead he circled around his desk, sat down and looked at his guests, waiting for them to speak. Iori was the one who stepped forward. “A little over a week ago, we lost contact with my brother, who was here for work, on top of that, he was staying here in your residence. We simply came here to find out if he’s okay, and why he hasn’t replied to us.” He said matter-of-factly. 

Osaka Soushi sighed. “Yes, that is true. But I’m sorry to tell you that even I am not sure what happened or where he is.” He explained calmly, looking as if it didn’t bother him at all. “What do you mean?” Iori asked, he was starting to sound a bit annoyed, which Riku figured would not be to their advantage, so he reached out again and grabbed his shoulder this time, trying to calm him down. 

Osaka Soushi still looked unamused by their visit, he kept his cool and continued to talk. “I meant exactly what I said, I’m not sure where he is, or why he isn’t contacting you.” Was all he said. This time, it was Yamato’s turn to question him. “You say that you’re not sure, does that mean that you have an idea? What exactly do you mean by ‘not sure’? Does it mean that you don’t know anything about it, or that you have an idea of what happened but can’t say for sure as of right now? Which one is it?” 

Yamato’s question seemed to have taken Osaka Soushi by surprise, for a few minutes he just sat in his chair and looked down at his own desk in thought. “Well, I guess I’m not fully in the dark. Ten days ago, your brother, Izumi Mitsuki left this house with my son, Yotsuba-kun, and a dozen other people, I know they were going up into the mountains, but I don’t know exactly where in the mountains, they do cover an awfully big area after all, nor do I know the reason for their spontaneous journey. Nobody has heard from any of them since.” He explained. 

While Iori was happy to finally get an answer as to why his brother hadn’t been answering any of their messages, learning the truth hadn’t made him less worried. He understood that Mitsuki wouldn’t have been able to answer while still being up there, but ten days was a long time, what if something had happened to them? Riku was the next person to speak. “I’m sorry, I know it’s none of my business, but you said your son went along with Mitsuki-san? Yet, you don’t seem to be very worried about him, has something like this happened before?” 

Hearing this, Iori quickly pulled Riku’s arm so that the redhead was now standing behind him, after which he bent down and whispered. “Be careful about what you say to him, Osaka Soushi is not someone you want to anger.” Riku looked a bit startled, but this didn’t last very long. “It’s quite alright, Izumi Iori, let her speak. After all, she’s correct, I’m not particularly worried. It’s not the first time people go up into the mountains, disappear for a few weeks, only to return later. Even if Sougo has never gone before, he’ll come back sooner or later. And him not returning wouldn’t be the worst thing that could happen, I’m sure you’re not unfamiliar with the fact that our relationship is rather… shall we say rocky?” Osaka Soushi said, a smug look on his face. 

Listening to what he had said made Riku angry, why would he say things like that about his own child? He was about to speak up again when he remembered Iori’s words, it was probably better not to anger the man and Riku was afraid that what he would have said next would have done just that. 

Nagi was the next to speak. “If you don’t mind me asking, do you know why they went there? Or is there anyone who might know the reason why, as well as where more exactly they are trying to go?” Osaka Soushi sighed. “Not that I know of, meaning Sougo didn’t tell anyone affiliated with the Osaka family anything. I can’t say the same for Izumi Mitsuki, however, if anyone knows something, they probably work for your family, Izumi Iori.” He said at last, turning to Iori as he spoke. 

Iori nodded. “Well then, thank you for taking the time to speak with us. We’ll be going now, but we plan to stay for a few days, if you were to learn anything new about my brother, your son or the ones who went with them, make sure to let us know?” Osaka Soushi nodded and dismissed them. They all said their goodbyes and headed towards the door. Before they could leave, however, Osaka Soushi stopped them. 

“One last thing.” He started, then he stood up and walked over to the group and came to a stop right before Riku. “Sadly, I was busy at the time, but congratulations on your marriage.” He said and turned to look at Iori, who simply nodded in appreciation, he then turned back to look at Riku. Riku flinched as the man in front of him reach out and stroked his cheek, letting his hand rest there for a few seconds. “She’s a pretty one, make sure to keep her close, lest you want something bad to happen to her. It’d be such a pity.” He said with a smirk before letting go of Riku’s face and returning to his desk, once again signaling them to leave his office. 

They were all followed out by the same lady who had originally shown them the way. Once they were outside and had walked for a few minutes so that the mansion was no longer in sight, Riku stopped and grabbed onto Iori’s sleeve, making him stop too. Riku could feel panic set in, he thought he’d be fine, but everything that had just happened finally caught up to him and for every second his breathing became more and more labored. Iori noticed that something was wrong and immediately focused all his attention on Riku. He grabbed his shoulders and started rubbing up and down the other’s arms while looking him in the eye. “Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay.” Iori said, and then he repeated the same thing over and over again to make Riku feel better. 

Yamato and Nagi stood to the side, they had noticed that something had happened, but upon seeing Riku’s state they weren’t sure if there was anything they could do to help. Riku soon managed to calm down his breathing, but he was still feeling extremely anxious. “Okay, did Osaka Soushi just threaten me? Is that what just happened, or is he just always like that?” Riku managed to get out, his voice shaking more than he would have liked though. Iori looked over at Yamato and Nagi, and they all shared a worried expression. “What?! Do I need to be worried about this? What’s going on?” Riku asked, louder this time. Tears started running down his cheeks and his breathing was getting uneven again. 

As soon as he noticed the distress in Riku’s voice and on his face, Iori turned back to him, this time, instead of just stroking his arm, he pulled him into his embrace. “You’ll be fine, I’ll make sure of it. I don’t know if Osaka Soushi just threatened you, but I won’t let him lay a finger on you, so you don’t need to worry. You’re safe, I promise.” Iori said while holding onto Riku for dear life. 

Riku was now full on sobbing. He wrapped his own arms around Iori and buried his face in the other’s shoulder. Upon hearing Iori’s reassurances, he felt a lot better. “Okay…” Riku somehow managed to get out. The two stayed like that, in each other’s arms while whispering comforting words. Soon, Riku managed to calm down and they all kept walking. However, Riku and Iori never let go of one another, Iori with one arm protectively slung around Riku’s shoulders, and Riku in turn with one arm around Iori's waist. Yamato and Nagi had wanted to ask if they were okay but wasn’t sure exactly how to do it. Everything had seemed so intimate at the time. 

They soon got back to the inn, and as soon as they had gone inside, Tsumugi started fretting about Riku, seeing as he was quite pale, and his eyes were still a bit red and swollen after crying. The two of them had headed up to the bedroom that was reserved for Riku and Iori, Tsumugi having said that she would take care of Riku for a while. 

In the meantime, the remaining people all gathered around a big table while Nagi, Iori and Yamato explained the situation. That night, they all decided on what would happen next, they were going to go into the mountains and try to find Mitsuki, Sougo, Tamaki and the rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot thickens... What do you guys think about this developmet? I hope you liked it at least! ^^ I'll be back on Saturday when the search for Mitsuki, and now also Sougo and Tamaki, continues! Thank you for reading, and thank you even more to those who leaves kudos and comments and so on, it always makes me super happy! <3<3<3


	26. Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After having returned from the Osaka mansion, the group decided to follow Mitsuki, Sougo and Tamaki into the mountains, but there seems to be some disagreements about the journey...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Saturday to you all! I'm back with the next chapter and I hope you're all excited! Anyway, before that, I have some beautiful pieces of art I wanted to share with you all that some of you readers made! I'm always really happy to see things like these, it actually feels surreal, I never thought someone would take the time to make something that was inspired by something I made, so just now that I appreciate it so so much!!! <3  
> The first one is made by @xSakurafubuki on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EFagerhag/status/1109531323801182208  
> And the other is made by @michan1907 also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/michan1907/status/1109515339929272321  
> Again, thank you so much! ^^  
> Now, on with the chapter, I hope you all will enjoy it! If you want to find me on any social media, I'm on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com and I'm on Twitter: @EFagerhag

After they got back, Riku had gone up to his and Iori’s bedroom with Tsumugi, who had drawn him a bath at first. He had now changed into his pajamas and was sat, cross-legged on the bed while explaining everything that had happened at the Osaka family mansion to Tsumugi. Soon they heard a knock on the door. “Who is it?” Tsumugi called out. “It’s just me!” They heard from the other side of the door. Both of them immediately recognized the voice as the one belonging to Iori, and so they didn’t hesitate to open the door.

Iori entered the room and walked over to the bed, where Riku was. “How are you feeling?” He asked. Riku smiled at him. “A lot better.” He said, making Iori smile as well. Tsumugi couldn’t help but feel happy when she saw them interact. “Well, I suppose you’ve got everything covered now, Iori-san. I’ll take my leave.” She said as she headed over to the door, but before she exited, she turned around. “I’ll be one floor down if you need me for anything. Goodnight.” She said. Riku waved at her. “Thank you for everything! Goodnight.” He said, and then Tsumugi left. 

Iori and Riku were now alone in the room, Iori had joined Riku and was now sat on the bed just like him. Riku looked over. “So, what happened after I left?” He asked curiously. Iori told him all about it. “Nothing much, we mainly just explained what happened today to the rest, as well as decided what to do from here on out.” He said. 

Riku raised an eyebrow. “And? What are we going to do from here on out?” He asked. Iori looked him in the eyes determinedly. “We’re going up into the mountains, we’re finding my brother and the others.” He said. A serious expression overtook Riku’s face and he nodded. “Will your parents be okay with that? I mean, they told you to come right back when you-” He started but was soon interrupted by Iori. “When I found my brother, and he’s still missing.” 

Riku nodded again. “When do we leave?” He asked. For a moment, Iori looked away as if he was in deep thought, he sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “I was thinking, maybe it would be better if you waited here in Nesbury instead of going with us into the mountains.” He then said. Riku was shocked by this and didn’t really know what to say, for about a minute he just sat there and looked at Iori in disbelief. Once the initial shock wore off, he spoke. “What? No way, I’m not staying behind!” He yelled out. 

Iori looked a bit guilty, but even so, he didn’t give in. “It will be dangerous! There are wild animals, rockslides and the weather is extremely unstable. What if you had an attack up there? The conditions wouldn’t exactly be ideal! I really think you would be safer if you waited down here, in Nesbury.” He explained, but Riku wouldn’t have it. 

“I don’t care how dangerous it is, I’m coming too! I’m sorry that I’m weak, or that I’m not as smart as you, but believe it or not, I can take care of myself!” Riku was upset, but despite what he said, it wasn’t the thought of not going into the mountains or the thought of not helping to find Mitsuki that was upsetting him, he simply found that he didn’t want to leave Iori’s side. In fact, he wasn’t excited in the least about exploring the mountains, he would rather stay in town, but the thought of Iori leaving him there alone while he went ahead to look for his brother somehow terrified him. 

Iori already felt bad as it was, but hearing Riku argue back made him feel even worse, he didn’t want to leave him behind, he had simply come to the conclusion that it would be safer that way. “Of course, I know you can! I didn’t mean it like that! You’re anything but weak, and you’re just as smart! That’s not why I want you to stay behind, if something were to happen to you up there, I wouldn’t know what to do…” He explained, trying to make the situation at least a little bit better. 

Riku looked down, he felt slightly moved by what Iori had just said, but he wasn’t about to back down. “But what about you?” He asked, taking Iori by surprise. “What?” He asked. “It’s dangerous for you too! It’s not that I really want to go, I just don’t want to leave you… What if something happened to you up there and I didn’t know about it? You're not the only one who wants to protect those you care about.” Riku said, surprising Iori. Riku could feel tears well up in his eyes but he forced himself to keep going anyway. 

“You’re the only one I have right now, if you’re gone, I’d be all alone… I don’t care if it’s dangerous, or if no one wants me there, or if I’m a burden, I’m not leaving your side. You said so yourself, you promised you would keep me safe, right? You can’t do that if we’re separated! If you’re going up into the mountains to look for your brother, then so am I! We’ll look out for each other.” Once he was finished, Riku stopped to dry his tears. He didn’t look at Iori, or rather, he felt like he couldn’t look at him at the moment, afraid of what he would see. 

Iori had been very taken aback by Riku’s exclamation, and he wasn’t sure how to react to it. Part of him felt extremely happy knowing just how much the other didn’t want him to leave his side, but he also felt sad for causing the other to feel that way, and mad at himself for not realizing that Riku might think like that. Iori finally caved. “Okay, fine. You can come along.” He said, making Riku immediately turn his head around to stare at the other. “Really?” He asked. 

Iori sighed and nodded. “On one condition.” He then said, making Riku look skeptical. “What condition?” The redhead asked suspiciously. “Don’t ever leave my side, I won’t leave yours either, but you have to promise me that you won’t wander off on your own.” He said seriously. Riku’s face lit up as soon as he heard this. “Of course! I promise! I won’t leave your side for even a second! Unless maybe when either of us needs to use the bathroom, but that’s kind of a given, right? But I’ll still stand close, and-” Riku was rambling. Iori found it extremely endearing and smiled at the other. It didn’t take long for Riku to realize what he was doing, and he immediately flushed as red as a tomato. 

“Well, just so you know, we leave tomorrow at nine in the morning, wake up early so that you’ll have time to get ready, eat breakfast and pack. I’ll help you with the packing, so you don’t actually have to think too much about that though.” Iori said and Riku nodded. Iori then reached out a hand and started wiping away the tears that still lingered on Riku’s cheeks while smiling softly at the other. The act felt oddly intimate, and it only took a couple of seconds for the atmosphere to turn kind of awkward. 

Riku’s face turned redder as Iori slowly moved his hand away and cleared his throat as an attempt to clear up the mood that hung over them now. “Well, I think I should go and get ready for bed.” Iori said awkwardly as he stood up and headed over to grab what he needed and then disappeared into the bathroom. 

Riku was still a bit flustered, but as he thought back to the events of the day he didn’t feel as embarrassed as he had before. Instead, he felt exhausted. His eyelids felt heavy and he couldn’t really concentrate on anything. A lot had happened, so it really wasn’t that weird that he was tired. He had originally wanted to wait for Iori to come back so that they could talk some more before falling asleep, but his body clearly wasn’t agreeing to that idea. He lay down under the cowers and soon drifted off to sleep. 

When Iori returned he had expected to see Riku still sitting on the bed, instead he was curled up under the covers, clearly having already fallen asleep. He smiled to himself, it had been a long day and they both deserved a good night’s sleep, he had a feeling it would be the last one for a while. Soon, he joined Riku on the bed and fell asleep just as quickly as the other had. 

Iori was the first to wake up the next morning, he checked what time it was and decided that he should probably wake Riku up as well, even though he would have preferred to let the other sleep for a few more minutes. “Riku, it’s morning.” He said sleepily as he shook Riku’s shoulder to wake him up. Riku groaned and rolled over, pulling the duvet up over his face. Iori smiled fondly, but Riku needed to wake up now so he shook him again, this time a bit harder. “You need to wake up.” He said. 

Riku groaned for the second time that morning, but this time he sat up in the bed. He looked tired, as one would after having just woken up, and his hair was an absolute mess. “What time is it?” He asked. Iori got out of the bed as he answered him. “Later than I would have liked, we have to hurry, or we’ll be late for breakfast.” Riku nodded and got out of the bed as well. He stretched his arms above his head and then walked over to were he stored his clothes for the time being. 

Riku looked at his clothes and came to a realization. “Hey Iori, what would be appropriate to wear when going up into the mountains?” He asked, not sure if he had anything that would suit the occasion. Iori turned around and walked over to Riku to help him look. “Well, it’s pretty cold up there, so you’ll have to be dressed warmly, not as cold as Iroche but still really cold, especially if we go high up. You should also pick something that’s easy to move around in and that you wouldn't mind of it got dirty or torn.” He said. 

Riku frowned. “Yeah, I feel like my dresses are either too fancy or too inconvenient to wear up there… I didn’t bring as many warm clothes, I have my jacket and some gloves, but that’s about it.” He said, feeling a bit troubled. “Well, a dress might not be ideal for mountain climbing, maybe you should wear pants instead?” Iori suggested. 

Riku just looked at the other with a deadpan expression. “I don’t have any pants, I’m supposed to be a girl, remember? Mom only sent me dresses and skirts.” Riku stated. Iori hummed in thought, and then he started looking Riku over, making the other raise an eyebrow in question. “Well, if you don’t have any, I can lend you some of mine. I’m really not that much bigger than you, so I bet they’ll fit.” Iori said. 

“Can I really borrow some?” Riku asked, dumbfounded. He hadn’t expected that at all. “Of course. I’d rather lend you some pants than have you going up in the mountains in some fancy dress or skirt that won’t keep you warm enough or that will get caught in sticks or between rocks. I’ve got more than I need with me anyway.” Iori explained. He then walked over to were he had his own clothes and looked through what he had. He then picked out four different pairs, all in dark colors, and gave them to Riku. “There, I don’t know how long we’ll be up there, so put one on and pack down the other three.” Iori said. 

Riku took the pants graciously. “Thank you so much!” He said before he went into the bathroom to get ready. In the end, he had also ended up borrowing two tops from Iori, while he made some of his own tops work as well and packed those down. They had both finished packing soon and they were both dressed for the days to come, Riku had also put on his wig and braided the long hair into two thick braids. 

Once they were done, they went downstairs and met with the rest, ate their breakfast and made plans for the journey that was ahead of them. It was decided that some people, including Tsumugi, would stay behind in Nesbury and keep an eye on the situation there, as well as let the ones that were leaving know if something happened in the village. A short while later they were all packed up and ready to leave, they said their goodbyes to those who stayed behind, and then they were off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An emotional argument? Check. Iori and Riku showing how much they care for each other? Check. Riku borrowing Iori's clothes? Check, check, check. I hope you all liked this chapter, and when I'm back on Wednesday they'll finally be going into those mountains! An adventure awaits them! ^^ Anyway, thank you so much for reading and for supporting this story! Thank you to all those who leaves comments or kudos or who sends me messages! <3


	27. Into the Mountains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has finally come for Iori, Riku, Yamato and Nagi to venture into the mountains in order to find Mitsuki and the rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Wednesday, so I'm back. I hope you're all excited for this chapter as this is when they will properly start their adventure in the mountains! ^^ I don't really have anything in particular to say, so enjoy! If you want to find me somewhere else and scream with me about i7 stuff (which I would love) then you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Riku had known that his condition was bound to get in the way sooner or later, climbing mountains was, after all, not the best activity to do if you had asthma. Despite this, he believed he was doing quite well so far, as he had only needed to stop twice to catch his breath. They were taking it quite slow, which Riku both deeply appreciated and felt a bit bad about. He was happy they all took his health into consideration, but he couldn’t stop feeling like he was a burden to the rest of the group, like he was just slowing them down and that, maybe, it would have been better if he stayed behind after all.

Then, however, Iori would come up to him and help him catch his breath, as well as reassure his worries, instantly making Riku remember why he had been so adamant about joining this little mission in the first place. He couldn’t make himself regret it, as he would have most likely felt even more guilty if he had chosen to stay behind. 

They had now been walking for about three hours and it was getting difficult to see Nesbury in the distance, which they had been able to do ever since they had started walking. Yamato was leading them in the front, closely followed by Nagi, then came Riku a few meters behind, and Iori right behind Riku, and then the rest of the group walked in the back. 

“So,” Riku started, not sure exactly who he was addressing. “Are we sure we’re walking in the right direction? How do we know that Mitsuki-san and the others went this way? Or are we just going in blind and hoping for the best?” He asked. Nagi was the one who answered him. “Well, we managed to find out where they started from, so we started from the same place, and we know in which direction they went in at first, which is the same direction we’re walking in right now. We also know that they passed by the last open mine that’s up ahead, I think we’ll be able to reach that by nightfall.” Was the answer he had given. 

Riku nodded before he realized that Nagi, who was facing ahead, couldn’t see him. Riku kept talking. “The last mine? Is there only one mine that’s open for work? I thought there’d be more in the area, considering how many mountains there are.” He stated. Riku had read in books that there were quite a lot of mines in Pandragora, and that they were rich in rare gems and minerals, so to find a city located in the middle of these mountains with only one open mine seemed a bit odd to him. 

Up ahead, he could hear Nagi chuckle lightly. “Yeah, well, there used to be a lot more, but they had to close down.” He said. Riku lifted an eyebrow in question. “Close down? Why did that happen?” He asked curiously. Nagi immediately got to explaining why. “Well, some seventy years ago, there was an accident. Three of the biggest mines all collapsed during the same week. Over a hundred people died, and at least double the amount got gravely injured. After investigating the cause for these collapses, they found that after centuries of use, the tunnels had grown weak and couldn’t support themselves any longer, so to make sure that no further incidents like that happened, they simply closed them all down.” 

Riku frowned, he had no idea that such an incident had ever taken place. Then again, it was before his time, and he had also never really been up to date with what happened in Pandragora, mostly receiving news about incidents that happened throughout Myronia. He was just about to ask something else when Nagi started talking again. “For decades, there were no activities in these mountains at all. Then, about twenty years ago, they opened up a new mine quite far away from where the old ones are located. It’s currently the only open mine in this area but we hope to establish some more in the future. Nesbury, which used to be the greatest known mining city in the world, has still not returned to its former glory. The accidents in the mines really was a huge blow to it.” He explained. 

“I see…” Riku said as he looked down at the parts of Nesbury that were still vaguely visible from where they were currently at, trying to imagine what the city might have looked like in the past. “I wonder what it was like here before the accidents…” He said out loud. “I think we’ve got a painting of the old Nesbury, in our library back at home.” This time it was Iori who spoke. Riku turned around to look at him. “I think it was bought by my grandfather, there was this artist that used to come here, up into the mountains, and draw scenery. I’m pretty sure we’re still keeping that painting in the library.” Iori explained further. 

Riku thought for a while, trying to remember if he had seen a painting like that in the Izumi family’s library. He could. “I think I know which one you mean. I never would have guessed that that resembled Nesbury if you hadn’t told me! It looked so much bigger in the painting! For a second I though it might have been a painting over Northmeir.” He said. 

The conversation kept going along these lines. Riku asked more questions, and Iori and Nagi would answer him, explaining the history of Nesbury or the mountains or the mining industry. Every once in a while, Yamato would offer some insight, but he was mostly focused on the road ahead. And so, they all kept wandering up the mountains. 

The sun was beginning to set, and they could finally see the entrance to the mine ahead of them. They had decided the previous night that they would stop there for the first night, both because it was a clear goal to keep in mind as they walked that day, but also because they wanted to ask those who worked at the mine if they knew anything about Mitsuki, Sougo, Tamaki or the others who had gone with them. 

“Finally! Onii-san is not built for this kind of exercise, I’m much better at shorter distances.” Yamato exclaimed as he stretched his arms out over his head as if to make a point. Nagi chuckled and Riku simply smiled at the statement. 

Iori, who had been walking behind Riku almost all the way, had now started jogging before slowing down again once he was right beside Riku. “Are you okay?” He asked. Riku frowned. “Do I not look okay to you?” He asked dryly, making Iori smile slightly. “No, you look fine. I just wanted to make sure is all, since this isn’t exactly the ideal activity for you to partake in.” He said. 

Riku gave Iori a smile, but Iori could see that it wasn’t his sincerely happy smile and started worrying. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to belittle you or anything, I think I’m just a bit on edge with everything that’s going on.” He said, trying to make it better. Riku smiled again, this time more genuine. “Don’t apologize! You didn’t do anything wrong, you were just showing that you care. Why would that make me upset?” He told the other. Iori sighed in relief upon hearing this. 

“If anything, I guess my feet are hurting me a bit, I’m not really used to doing so much walking after all…” Riku said a while later while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. Iori frowned. “Make sure you sit down and rest up, we’re going to be doing more walking tomorrow.” He said. “Yeah, yeah, I know already!” Riku responded with a pout. 

Iori nodded, satisfied enough with the answer. Riku then turned his head around to look at Iori with a cheeky smile plastered on his face. “If I get too tired, will you carry me like you did at the gala?” Riku asked while trying to sound innocent, however, the smirk and the glint in his eyes instantly gave away that he was trying to tease the other. 

Iori flushed, feeling a bit embarrassed at the memory. “You know you’re heavy, right? It was one thing to carry your unconscious body out of a burning room, I didn’t really have much of a choice back then. I honestly don’t think I could carry you up a mountain.” He said, a bright pink blush still visible on his cheeks. 

“So, you won’t sweep me off my feet like last time if I get too tired?” Riku asked, his voice dripping with fake disappointment. Iori sighed at the other’s antics. “First of all, if I wanted to carry you up a mountain, it would be much more convenient to carry you on my back rather than in my arms. Second of all, I wouldn’t last very long walking while carrying your weight, it would slow everyone down even more, so it would have to be something actually serious if I were to carry you again.” Iori answered. 

Riku’s plan had backfired. He had been wanting to tease Iori about it, but instead, he ended up getting flustered by Iori’s answer. His face flushed and he felt like he had to look away for a moment. “So, if it was really necessary, you would carry me?” He asked, but it was so quiet, Riku thought that Iori might not have heard him. He did hear him, though. 

“Well, if the choice was between leaving you or carrying you the rest of the way, of course I would carry you! I told you, we’ll stick together as long as we’re up here.” Iori said, feeling just as flustered and shy about it as the redhead. “Thank you.” Riku whispered back, still refusing to look Iori in the face. 

It was at this moment that they could hear Yamato yelling at them from up ahead. “Oi, will you two stop flirting already and come help set up the camp for the night?!” Both Iori and Riku flushed a darker shade of red at the implications of Yamato’s question. They said nothing and instead walked over to the rest of the group to help setting up what would be their camp for the night. 

About an hour after they arrived, the campsite was all set up. Iori, Riku, Nagi and Yamato had gone to speak with the ones in charge of the work in the mine in order to see if they knew anything about Mitsuki and the others. They had learned that about nine days ago, a small group of people had indeed passed by the mine, and there was someone amongst them who fit Mitsuki’s description really well. They also learned that they had been heading north and that they had appeared to be looking for something or someone. Iori and the rest had then thanked the man they had been talking to and were now back in their camp. 

The sun had already set, and everyone was tired after having been walking all day, so once they had all gotten something proper to eat, they had all gone off to do their own things, most of which involved sleeping. Riku was laying on his back in the tent that he shared with Iori, he had decided to keep his wig on for the night, which he had earlier tended to take off while sleeping, at least since Iori learned the truth. However, a tent didn’t exactly provide much privacy, and so, Riku thought it would be safer to just keep it on. The night air was chilly, which also meant that Riku was wearing more clothing than he had ever worn to bed before. Though, to be honest, he still felt a bit cold. 

Iori was sat on Riku’s left and noticed that the other started shivering a bit. He didn’t like the look of that. “Are you cold? Do you want something more to wear? I could lend you something of mine if you want.” He said. Riku just smiled and shook his head. “I’ll be fine, but thanks.” He said. Iori was not convinced. 

With a sigh, Iori lay down on their makeshift bed, however, he was much closer to Riku than he normally was, which caught the redhead a bit off-guard. “Come here.” Iori said. Riku raised an eyebrow in question. Iori sighed again. “It’s not good for you to get cold, it’ll be warmer if you sleep closer to me, right? I’m saying that I’m okay with it, so just let me know what to do to make sure you’re comfortable.” He said. 

Riku’s eyes widened. “Are you sure? You wouldn’t be uncomfortable with that? I would actually feel a bit better if we could maybe do that… Ah! But only if you’re sure you’re okay with it, of course! Riku exclaimed, feeling a bit flustered about the situation. Iori blushed. “I wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place if I really wasn’t okay with it! Will you just scoot over here already?” He answered. 

Riku nodded and moved himself and all of his blankets over to Iori’s side of the tent. He lay down right beside the other, so that he was pressed up against Iori’s side, and let out a satisfied sigh. He felt like he might actually be able to fall asleep like that, with the help of the heat radiating off of Iori’s body. “Thank you.” Riku whispered, and soon, he was fast asleep. 

Iori had it a bit more difficult to fall asleep, and so, he simply watched Riku for a while. Soon, he saw that the other had started shivering again. He really didn’t want the other to be cold, so the first thing he did was to take off one of his own jackets and place it over the other’s sleeping form. He then hesitated for a bit before turning so that he was laying on his side rather than on his back, pulled Riku closer to himself without waking him up, and then wrapped his arms around the sleeping boy, hoping that his embrace might keep him warm enough throughout the night. 

It was in this moment, when laying on his side, heart racing while embracing his ‘wife’, that Iori came to a slightly terrifying, yet not quite unexpected conclusion. He realized that he was probably starting to like the other a bit more than he had planned on. Having realized this, a single thought repeated itself inside his head. 

_‘Oh shit.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh, there we go, good boy Iori, you finally realized, eh? Are you guys excited for what's to come next? I sure am! I'll be back on Saturday as usual with the next chapter. Thank you so much for reading as well as for leaving kudos and comments! <3


	28. Wandering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori, Riku and the rest of their little group continue their journey through the mountains, hoping to find some sort of trace after Mitsuki or the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Saturday so I am once again back with a new chapter! I hope you all are looking forward to this! I really enjoy writing these chapters that are taking place in the mountains, it's a little different from what I ususally write, but I'm having a lot of fun doing it! In fact, this entire fic is a bit outside of my comfort zone,but I'm really glad I started it, and that it's come such a long way! Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's chapter!  
> If you want to find me anywhere other than here on AO3, you can do so either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

The next morning, Riku woke up to a combination of the sun hitting his face and the sound of conversation coming from outside. He had been aware that tents weren’t the best at keeping the cold or loud noises out, but he had thought they would be more resilient to the light of the sun in the morning. He groaned and rolled over, at first he didn’t think too much about it, but he soon realized that he had too much space, considering Iori had been right next to him when he fell asleep the other night. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he then noted that Iori was not in the tent anymore.

Just as he was about to go looking for the other, someone entered the tent. As it turns out, Iori had actually been on his way to wake Riku up and was thus the one who had entered. He was a bit taken aback when he saw that the other was already awake, but the surprise was soon replaced by an amused look on his face. “What?” Riku asked irritated, he was still too tired to be in the mood for any teasing or amusement, seeing as he had just woken up. 

Iori simply smiled and shook his head. “Nothing, just your wig is kind of falling off.” He said, trying to stifle a laugh, the redhead looked kind of silly with the wig half falling off his head, revealing short tousled locks underneath. He would never say it out loud, but Iori found Riku to be awfully cute in his current state. 

“Really?” Riku asked, now more awake. He reached up to try and fix it, only to realize that he couldn’t see himself, and thus had no idea how he looked. Iori could see Riku struggle with getting the wig back on correctly, so he reached out for the other. “Here, let me help you.” He said as he rearranged how it sat on Riku’s head. Riku let Iori help him out, he actually kind of enjoyed the feeling of Iori fixing his hair. 

“There.” Iori soon exclaimed. “All done. You look good.” He said with a smile. Riku returned the smile just as earnestly. “Thank you.” He said before he finished off the rest of his morning routine, or at least the parts of his morning routine he could do right then and there in the tent. 

Once Riku was finished he looked over to Iori, who had begun packing up their stuff. Noticing the other’s stare, Iori turned to face him. “You should head out and get something to eat for breakfast, I’ve already eaten so I’ll just be packing up, we’d like to leave as soon as possible after all.” Iori said, to which Riku only replied with a nod before he exited the tent. 

As soon as he was outside, Riku shivered a bit from the cold. He couldn’t help but remember the warmth of last night. He hadn’t expected Iori to offer to help him like that, and he had found that he was strangely okay with it all, he had originally thought it would be more awkward than it had actually been. He must be more comfortable around Iori than he had realized. He wasn’t certain, but he felt like, at some point during the night, he had gotten even warmer than he had been when falling asleep, and with the warmth came a feeling of safety. He told himself that he would never let anyone know, but he had to admit that he actually missed that warmth. 

Following Iori’s advice, Riku went to look for something to eat. He soon spotted Yamato sitting by the fire with what looked like some sort of porridge. He walked over and sat himself down beside him. Yamato immediately understood what Riku had come there for, placed his own bowl down on the ground and got a new one, filled it with the porridge and handed it to Riku. “Thank you.” Riku said with a smile. 

Riku watched as Yamato picked up his own bowl from the ground and resumed eating, Riku then took a bite himself. It tasted sort of bland, but he supposed they would have to live with food like that while they were still wandering through the mountains. “So,” Yamato started. “How’s Ichi doing? Is he okay?” He asked. 

Riku swallowed the spoonful of porridge that he had just put in his mouth before answering the bespectacled man to his right. “He’s mostly fine, I think. A bit on edge, but he’s strong, he’ll keep it together. I’m just scared of how he might react if it turns out that something bad did happen to Mitsuki-san. They’re so close, I think it would completely break Iori.” He answered. Yamato nodded. 

“Yeah, those two have always been very close. Mitsu has always been very good at taking care of people, and Iori really adores everything that has to do with his big brother.” Yamato explained. Riku smiled at that, he had seen the two of them interacting in person, so he knew first hand how close the two brothers had been. It always made him miss his own brother an awful lot. 

“What are we going to do if we can’t find them?” Riku asked Yamato. This thought had been nagging in the back of his head ever since they had left yesterday. He didn’t want it to be like that, but he couldn’t get the thought out of his head. Yamato sighed. “Honestly? I don’t know. They’ve been up here for much longer than we have, there’s no telling how long it would take, for how long we would have to look. And if even we do find them, there’s no telling what state they’ll be in. Although, I think I would rather find them badly hurt, or even dead, than not finding anything at all.” He said. 

This took Riku by surprise. “What? Why?” He asked. Yamato smiled a sad smile. “Because then, at least we would know for sure what happened. I think I would rather know someone close to me was gone, instead of looking for them for years. That’s just my own personal opinion though.” He explained. 

Riku nodded, he could understand where Yamato was coming from, but he wasn’t sure he could agree. He wouldn’t say this though, as he really wasn’t in the mood to argue about it with anyone for the time being. Instead, he just kept eating his porridge, that was starting to get a bit cold, which honestly made it quite unappetizing and Riku found it more and more difficult to keep eating. He still finished it though, as he would probably need the energy throughout the day. 

It wasn’t long until everything in the camp had been taken down and they were all ready to keep going. They didn’t have any specific location to head towards this time, but they did know that they would need to head north for starters. This could go so many ways, Riku just hoped they would end up finding something sooner, rather than later. 

They had been walking for a long time, and despite it having been quite tough, they had only needed to stop once to rest, which made Riku feel a bit better about himself. He felt like maybe he wasn’t holding them all back as much as he had originally thought he was. However, as the day passed, he could feel himself grow more and more tired, and he could feel the strain all the walking had on his lungs. He probably wouldn’t be able to keep up this pace every day that were to come. 

Soon, night came, and they once again stopped to set up a new camp. It took much shorter this time, as they had all already done it at least once now. They ate, made plans for the following day, and then they all went to sleep. Iori and Riku was, once again, curled up around each other to keep warm. And so, the second day came to and end without them finding anything of importance at all. 

The next day, they kept walking north. They weren’t exactly sure how far north they should continue, they had hoped to find something before too much time had passed. The third day had been a bit harder for Riku, he’d had to stop the group seven times to be able to catch his breath. Iori was getting more worried about him by the minute, he even offering to walk him back down to Nesbury if this got too tough for him. Riku adamantly refused, saying he would be fine if he just got to rest for a few minutes. Riku had been tempted to tease Iori some more about the whole ‘carrying’ stuff they’d talked about the other day, but when he saw Iori’s worried gaze he thought that the other might actually do it for him. If there was anything Riku didn’t want to do right now, it was to cause even more problems for Iori, so he ended up saying nothing. The third day ended without any discoveries, just like the previous day, much to everyone's disappointment. 

The fourth day had started off quite well, the weather was really nice, Riku felt a lot better than he had done the day before, and after only having walked for about two hours, they had found something. A piece of fabric was caught on a rock, it looked relatively clean and they concluded that it had most likely only been torn off three or four days ago. To top it all off, the cloth bore the sigil representing the Osaka family on it, meaning whoever had worn it belonged to the Osakas. They all continued on with higher spirits than they had before, and the good mood lasted almost throughout the entire day. But alas, they didn’t find anything else, and so ended the fourth day. 

It was now the fifth day of their little journey up into the mountains, and other than the torn off piece of clothing, they had nothing. Everyone’s spirits were rather low, but despite this, they continued onward, hoping that they would be able to find something new. Most of the day was uneventful, but later that afternoon, just before the sun was about to set, they found a spot where they could conclude that a part of the mountain wall had collapsed just two or three days ago. They were stood by the ledge, discussing whether or not they should try and go down, to check if it was possible that Mitsuki’s group had gotten caught in the rockslide. The group was awfully torn on the idea. 

Riku, who was currently sat down on a rock a bit away from the rest of the group, wasn’t partaking in the discussion. He was a bit out of breath and his feet hurt. He was almost certain he had gotten a few blisters on his feet by now, but he didn’t want to slow them down any more than he already did, so he said nothing about it. Besides, he was most likely not the only one with blisters, and nobody else was complaining about it, he really did not want to be the first to do so. 

The discussion had been going on for ages, and it still seemed like it was nowhere near over. Riku was feeling restless, and so he stood up and walked over to where the rockslide had taken place, thinking that maybe he could find something there. He knelt down and tried moving some of the smaller rocks, thinking something might have gotten caught underneath. He found nothing in particular, so he stood up to go back to the others. When he did that, however, he felt his foot get caught on one of the rocks and he fell over, moving the rock in the process. 

He sat up and rubbed his knee, which had been the first to hit the ground. He winced in pain as he felt the fabric of his pants start getting both warm and moist, concluding that he was most likely bleeding. He didn’t have long to think about this though, as he noticed that there was something off about the mountain wall where the stone he had accidentally moved had originally been. He walked over and started moving more of the stones that had been in the way. 

Once he had moved about a dozen more stones, he looked at what he had accomplished. Riku had managed to find a cave, a cave that had been hidden behind the remnants of the rockslide. He immediately called the others over. “Hey, guys! I found something!” He yelled, catching the attention of Iori and the rest, who wasted no time in walking over to where Riku was. 

Riku excitedly pointed to his discovery, he walked up to it and put his hands on the wall by the side of the cave before he explained. “There was some kind of cave hidden behind the rocks that blocked the road! It seems to be quite deep, I can’t see the end of it.” He said, leaning further in to examine. Iori was suddenly overcome with a feeling of dread and went to warn Riku. “Hey, be careful, don’t lean so far into it!” 

Just as Iori said this, Riku lost his footing and fell right into the cave, which seemed to be going downward rather than being a straight path inside. He let out a scream as he fell, and the remaining people all lost sight of him. 

“Riku!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, I'm leaving you on a cliffhanger, MUAHAHAHAHA! I'll be back on Wednesday with the continuation to this, so I hope you will all look forward to that! ^^ Thank you so much for reading this, and thank you to those who show their support by leaving kudos, comments, bookmarks or to those who contact me personally! It makes me super happy! <3<3


	29. The Cave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somehow, Riku managed to fall into a cave! Is he alright? And what is the mysterious cave he found?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Once again, I'm sorry for leaving you on such a cliffhanger last time! I hope you have all been looking forward to finding out if Riku's okay and what is going on with the cave he found! Anyway, enjoy this chapter! ^^  
> If you wanna talk to me, you can find me either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

”Riku!”

The moment Iori saw Riku falling down into the cave he was overcome with fear. He couldn’t lose Riku too, especially not now when Mitsuki was gone, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. He rushed over to the entrance of the cave, held onto the wall and peered into the dark opening in front of him. “Riku?!” He yelled out his name again, hoping, praying for a reply from the other. 

“It’s okay! I’m down here!” The moment Iori heard him, he looked down, and sure enough, he could see Riku sitting on the ground, it didn’t seem like he had fallen down very deep. “Oh my god. You scared the shit out of me, are you okay?” Iori asked, relief washing over him instantly. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. It wasn’t a very big fall, I’m almost certain I might be able to reach the ledge from here.” Riku answered, after which he tested his theory, and lo and behold, he could indeed reach. It wasn’t enough for him to get back up on his own, however, as his fingertips were the only part of his body that could reach the ledge, and he had to stand on the tips of his toes to do so. 

Iori sighed, still trying to collect himself after the scare Riku had given him. “Do you want some help getting out, or?” Iori asked as he knelt down on the ground in front of the opening, looking down to meet Riku’s gaze. Riku looked around the cave he was in for a few seconds before meeting Iori’s eyes. “I don’t know, I think the cave keeps going deeper into the mountains! Should we check it out or not?” He asked. 

Iori turned around to look at Yamato and Nagi, he wasn’t sure what the right thing to do in this situation was, so he had turned to the other two for help in deciding which path to take. Part of him was curious about the cave, but another part of him just wanted to get Riku out of there right this instant and that they would then be on their way. “I’m a bit curious about it, I think it’s worth checking out.” Nagi said. The others nodded, and so it was decided. 

“I’ll stay out here, I’m not really keen on going in there, besides, somebody has to stay out here to pull you all out when you come back.” Yamato said, Iori and Nagi nodded in affirmation. Yamato stayed behind, along with three other members of their company, while Nagi, Iori and the rest decided to join Riku in the cave. 

They tied a rope to a rock and used it to climb down. Iori was the first one to enter, and the moment his feet hit the ground he rushed over to Riku, checking him for any possible injuries. “Did you get hurt anywhere?” He asked worriedly. “Not badly, I’ve probably got quite a few cuts and bruises though.” Riku answered. Iori nodded and then he pulled the other in for a hug. 

Riku hadn’t expected the sudden embrace, but he accepted it graciously, feeling comfortable in Iori’s hold. Iori soon pulled away. “I’m sorry, I’m just glad you’re okay.” He said. Riku smiled and shook his head, he then lifted his hands and placed them on Iori’s chest, fixing a part of the collar of Iori’s jacket which had gotten a bit crooked. “I’m sorry too, I didn’t mean to scare you like that.” Riku then said as he patted Iori’s chest, happy with the correction he had made to the other’s clothing. 

Iori had to look away for a second, he had suddenly realized just how close he was standing to Riku and it made him feel weird. He could feel his heart speed up in his chest, his stomach clenched in an odd way, and his entire body, especially his face, felt hotter than it usually did. It was like he was hyperaware of everything going on with his own body while also being extremely conscious of the heat coming off of Riku. Iori swallowed and hoped that the darkness of the cave would hide the blush that was surely covering his cheeks and that Riku wouldn’t notice his current state. 

“Okay, I think that’s everyone.” Nagi exclaimed, and sure enough, there were now a big number of people struggling to fit in the tight space that the cave offered. Riku nodded and pointed ahead. “The cave continues that way, I don’t know how far it goes, or if there’s anything in there though.” He said, and then they took off. 

Just as Riku started walking he felt someone grab ahold of his hand. He stopped and turned around to see Iori looking away, it was a bit hard to see since it was so dark, but Riku could have sworn there was some color tinting his cheeks. It made Riku feel a bit self-conscious in return. “Iori?” He said questioningly. 

Iori, who felt rather flustered, just started walking, pulling Riku along. “I’m just making sure you don’t wander off and fall into any more holes!” He said. Riku pouted. “I don’t need you to baby me!” He said, feeling both happy that Iori was so concerned for his wellbeing and annoyed that he didn’t trust him to take care of himself. “Then stop getting into trouble!” Iori exclaimed, effectively making Riku stop arguing about it, instead, Riku just followed the other while still holding onto his hand and pouting. 

They kept walking for a few minutes, and the cave seemed to be nothing more than an empty cave. Soon, they had reached what seemed to be the end of the cave, having found nothing but the occasional insect and some bat droppings. People started to sigh and whisper among themselves. They said things like ‘this was just a waste of time’ or ‘we should have never entered this cave in the first place’. Riku felt a bit bad since he had been the one who had found it, but he soon felt Iori squeeze his hand tighter while smiling down at him. He had probably heard them talking and assumed it was getting to Riku. Riku smiled back gratefully. 

“Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything in here, so shall we head back?” Nagi asked. There was a chorus of voices all agreeing that it was time to get out of the damp, dark cave. They all started walking back, but Riku stayed behind, he had wanted to find something and felt a bit disappointed that they hadn't found anything in the end. “Come on.” Iori said kindly while softly tugging on his hand, gesturing towards the exit. Riku smiled bitterly and nodded. 

They started walking, following the others, however, it wasn’t long until Riku came to a halt. Iori felt that Riku had stopped and turned around to see if something had happened. “Riku? Is something wrong? We have to go, or we’ll be left without a light in here.” Iori said, which was true, they had only brought three torches, and they were all currently in the hands of some of the people who were ahead of them. 

“And that’s a good thing.” Riku said quietly, confusing Iori further. He lifted an eyebrow and walked over to the other so that he was now standing right beside him. “What do you mean?” Iori asked curiously. 

When they had been walking back to the cave entrance, Riku thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye, but he hadn’t been sure, so he stopped to get a closer look. And the darker the cave got the clearer it became. There was a small opening in one of the walls along the wall, and a dim, blue light came from within. When everyone had been present, the light from the torches had overpowered the dim light that came from the opening, thus making it near impossible to see, however, once the torches got far enough away, the light once again became visible. 

“There’s an opening here, look! There’s even some sort of light shining through, we have to check it out!” Riku exclaimed as he pointed at the wall, showing Iori what he had discovered. Iori looked at the wall and saw that there was indeed both a light and an opening, however, he was a bit skeptical about going in. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Maybe we should just head back to the others.” Iori suggested, however, that was easier said than done. 

By the time Iori suggested they go back, the others seemed to have gotten far enough ahead that the light from the torches was completely gone. The road ahead was pitch black and they’d have no way of knowing which way to go. The only reason they could see anything at all at the time was the dim light coming from the crack in the wall that Riku had found, and even with that they could barely see each other, even though they were standing mere centimeters away from one another. 

“Well, it looks like that’s going to be a bit difficult now, if we check out the path though, we’ll be following a light source… Come on, Iori! I really want to know if there’s anything back there!” Riku said, trying to convince Iori to accompany him. Iori sighed. “I don’t think we should go there without alerting the others, what if they come back to look for us? They might not see the opening in the wall. And besides, it wouldn’t be wise to explore some unknown cave alone.” Iori said, he too was trying to convince Riku, but of staying out of the mysterious, glowing cave instead of going deeper into it. 

Riku wasn’t about to give in to Iori, he was really curious about that unexplored part of the cave, so this time he took a different approach. Riku grabbed onto Iori’s shoulders and hauled himself up so that he was now the same height as Iori, he looked him in the eyes and smiled sweetly, his face was so close that Iori could feel his breath on his cheek. Iori was suddenly really grateful for the darkness. “But I’m not alone, am I? You’re here so it’ll be fine!” Riku said, hoping Iori would take the bait. 

Iori could feel his heartbeat quicken and he felt like he had to look away, lest he wanted to suffocate. His realization a couple of days ago really didn’t make this any easier for him. “I think you might be overestimating me a little bit…” He said quietly, but he himself could feel that he wouldn’t be able to say no to Riku for much longer, and he knew that the redhead could tell that too. 

“Well, you haven’t let me down so far.” Riku said, still smiling innocently at Iori. Iori sighed and looked behind him one last time, trying to see if they really couldn’t spot Nagi or the others. He saw only darkness. “Fine, but on three conditions. Number one, we’ll yell out that we found something and that we’re checking it out, hoping that Rokuya-san and the others can here us before we go, number two, the moment we’ve checked it out, we go right back, and number three, I go first and you stay close at all times.” Iori said. 

Riku lit up immediately. “Of course! Anything you say! Now, let’s go!” Riku said and pulled on Iori’s sleeve. They moved over to where the light seeped through and saw that the opening was quite thin, they would probably have to go through it sideways to fit. Iori turned around. “ROKUYA-SAN! ME AND RIKU FOUND AN ENTRANCE TO ANOTHER CAVE OVER HERE! IF YOU CAN HEAR US, WE’LL BE CHECKING IT OUT!” Iori yelled, however, he didn’t receive a reply. 

Even though it seemed no one had heard them, they decided it was time to enter the cave. Iori went first and Riku followed, he held onto one of Iori’s sleeves while walking, as if to make sure that he didn’t get separated from the other. It didn’t take them long to get through the passageway, they had only walked for about two minutes when the path opened up in front of them. 

What awaited them on the other side was something neither had anticipated. The light was much stronger on this side, and it seemed to come from several big, blue crystals that lined the walls, and served as a natural light source. What they had found seemed to be somebody’s home, or lair, there were equipment everywhere, crates and kettles lined the ground and there was even something that resembled a bed along one of the walls. 

Iori and Riku looked at each other, not really sure what to make of their find. Riku bent down to pick up a glass bottle that was laying on the ground. He examined it and found that it was nearly empty, except for a thin layer of some sort of liquid that covered the bottom of it. He tried to open it, to examine the liquid itself, but the lid seemed to be stuck. Iori watched the other cautiously as he tried to pry the bottle open, but then, Riku felt the bottle slip out of his hands and it soon hit the ground. It broke and made a loud noise that resonated within the cave, making both boys jump. 

“Hey! Be more careful!” Iori hissed at Riku, who in turn looked away in embarrassment. This was when they heard it. From further within the cave they could hear the sound of footsteps getting closer. They weren’t alone, and whoever was in there with them was coming right their way. They looked at each other in panic, considering whether they should stay where they were, go back the way they came and hope to outrun whoever was coming, or if they should try and find somewhere to hide. 

In the end, they didn’t have time to make a decision as they realized that the person who was coming for them had already entered the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm ending it on another cliffhanger! Sorry! >.< I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and that you will be looking forward to the next! As usual, I'll be back on Saturday with the next update. Thank you so much to everyone who leaves kudos, comments, bookmarks, or to those who share this or encourage me in any way, shape or form! It all means a lot to me! <3<3<3


	30. Discoveries & Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is the mysterious person who's coming for Iori and Riku inside of the mysterious cave?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! With the next chapter! Once again, I'm sorry for the cliffhanger, (two times in a row!) but at the same time I'm not sorry at all ;) I hope you're all excited for this chapter, so without further ado, enjoy!  
> If you want to find me anywhere else, you can check out my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or my Twitter: @EFagerhag

The moment they heard the footsteps, both Iori and Riku completely froze. They looked at each other in a panic, wondering what they should do about it. They didn’t have enough time to decide what to do, however, as whoever was coming their way suddenly stopped, they could no longer hear any footsteps. Because of this, they both looked up in unison and saw that on the other end of the cavern there was a person. It was too dark to tell who it was and all they saw was a silhouette, but it was undoubtedly a person. Whoever it was, they were starting to get closer.

Riku felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest with how scared he was at the moment. He grabbed onto Iori’s arm and pressed himself against his side, Iori in turn moved to stand in front of Riku, trying to shield the other from whoever was approaching them. The person in question got closer and closer, and soon the dim blue light from the crystals illuminated their face, revealing their identity. 

“Yotsuba-san?!” Iori exclaimed in shock, and the person who had approached them was indeed Yotsuba Tamaki. “Iorin?!” He too was shocked to see just who had entered the cave. Riku took a deep breath and relaxed the moment he realized just who was standing in front of them, he also loosened his grip on Iori’s arm, but didn’t let go completely. 

Iori started walking toward the other, Riku in tow. “What’s going on? Why are you here?” He asked. Iori didn’t receive a reply immediately though as Tamaki swept both him and Riku into a bone crushing hug. “I’m so glad to see you two!” He exclaimed before he let go again, smiling brightly. It was then that Iori remembered just who Tamaki had been traveling with. “Yotsuba-san, is Nii-san with you? You left together, right? Is he okay?” 

Tamaki raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, of course Mikki’s here, he’s further down the tunnel I just came from.” He said, after which Iori promptly pulled his arm away from Riku’s hold and dashed off down the tunnels. “Ah! Wait, Iorin! The ground is really uneven and it get’s darker in there!” Tamaki yelled after him, but it seemed to be in vain. 

Riku put his hand on Tamaki’s shoulder and smiled reassuringly. “He’s just happy to learn Mitsuki-san is alright. He’s been really worried about him, you know?” He said. Tamaki frowned, then realization hit him. “Wait, why are you and Iorin here?” He asked. Riku wanted to explain, but he also wanted to follow after Iori. “I promise I’ll explain, but don’t you think we should go and make sure Iori’s alright?” He suggested, sounding a bit worried. Tamaki nodded and showed him the way through the tunnels. 

It wasn’t long before Riku could see the familiar light that came from a fire, he could also hear some voices in the distance. He picked up his pace and soon the tunnel they had walked through opened up and he and Tamaki were stood in a cave lit up by a fire. Riku could see Osaka Sougo leaning against a wall and in the middle of the room he found Iori and Mitsuki, both kneeling on the ground, hugging each other. Mitsuki was whispering reassurances to Iori, who was completely silent, however, his shoulders were trembling slightly, making Riku believe he was crying. 

“Mitsuki-san!” Riku exclaimed and walked up to the brothers, kneeling on the ground by the two of them. “Riku?” Mitsuki questioned, he looked very shocked to see that Riku was there, even more so than he had been when he had first seen Iori. Mitsuki then pushed Iori away and looked at his brother. “You brought your wife, who has asthma, up into the mountains?” He asked in disbelief. Iori brought his hand up to his face to wipe his tears on the sleeve, then he smiled at Mitsuki before turning to Riku, grabbing his hand. “She refused to stay behind, and she’s a lot stronger than you’d think. In fact, we probably wouldn’t have found you if it wasn’t for her, she was the one who found this cave.” He said and smiled at the redhead. Riku smiled back. 

This made Mitsuki smile brightly, he reached out and drew Riku into a hug this time. “Well, I guess I should thank you then.” He said with a chuckle. Riku smiled and hugged back. “Don’t mention it, I’m just glad you’re okay.” He said and pulled back. Mitsuki was about to say something more but was interrupted by Tamaki. “This is nice and all, but I’m really confused, what are you doing here, Iorin, Ricchan?” He asked. ‘Ricchan?’ Riku thought questioningly to himself. He looked at Iori who in turn just shrugged. 

“Mom and Dad contacted me and Riku when we were still traveling, telling us to come back. They told us they hadn’t been able to contact Nii-san for a long time and were getting worried, so the two of us, along with Rokuya-san, Nikaido-san and some other people, traveled to Nesbury. We then met with your father,” Iori explained as he pointed at Sougo. “And after that we decided to try and find you, so we’ve been doing that for a few days by now. Riku discovered the cave that was hidden under the rubble from the rockslide and we checked it out, she was also the one that noticed the dim, blue light and that’s how we discovered this part of the cave.” He finished his explanation. 

They were all quiet after Iori’s explanation, processing this new information, Sougo was the next person to speak. “Well, we really need to thank you. We found this cave a few days ago, but then that rockslide blocked the entrance, maybe we could have been able to move them had the entrance not been so high up.” He explained, Iori and Riku both nodded. Then Riku remembered something he had been wondering. “Why did you go into the mountains in the first place?” He asked. 

This time, Mitsuki was the one who answered them. “Well, Tamaki’s sister ran away from the orphanage they grew up in, we heard she had gone up into the mountains, so we went to look for her.” Iori was shocked hearing this, he knew Tamaki had a little sister and that they had lost their parents at a young age, but she had never seemed like the kind of person who would just run away. “Did you find her? Do you know if she’s okay?” He asked worriedly. 

Tamaki grinned at him. “Yep, we found her, she’s sleeping back there.” He said and pointed to one of the darker corners of the cave. Riku and Iori looked to where Tamaki was pointing and saw a young girl laying on the ground, wrapped in multiple blankets. “You mentioned you came with Nagi-kun and Yamato-san, where are they?” It was Sougo who had asked them this. Riku and Iori looked at each other at first. “Well, Yamato-san didn’t want to enter the cave, so he waited outside with some other people. Nagi-san was with us, but went back when we thought the cave was empty, that was before I noticed the light. We told them we went to check it out, but I’m not sure if they heard us…” Riku explained. 

As if on cue, they heard voices in the distance. Everyone quieted down and listened to what was being said. “Iori! Riku! Where are you?” They could barely make out. “That is most likely him!” Riku exclaimed as he stood up. “I’ll go let him know where we are and that we found you!” He said excitedly as he took off the way they had come. “Ah, wait! Don’t go by yourself!” Iori yelled after him before he stood up and followed after the redhead, closely followed by Mitsuki and Sougo. Tamaki stayed behind with the rest. 

“Nagi-san! Over here!” Riku yelled out. He was now back in the room with the crystals that he and Iori had found earlier. He stopped in his tracks however, as he saw something that he hadn’t noticed before. “Riku? Is that you?” Nagi yelled from the other side of the tunnel leading to the main part of the cave, but Riku was too distracted to answer him. 

Iori, Mitsuki and Sougo caught up to the redhead. They heard Nagi, and so Mitsuki and Sougo continued out of the tunnel to meet with him. Iori stopped and observed Riku. “Is everything okay?” He asked as he walked up to the other, placing a hand on his shoulders. “Iori, it’s safe to assume that someone was living here, right? Before Mitsuki-san and the others found it, I mean.” He said. Iori nodded. “I suppose? That seems to be the case at least.” He answered. 

Riku took a step forward and picked up something from one of the small natural stone shelfs that adorned the wall. “Look at this.” He said and handed the object to Iori. Iori took it and turned it in his hand, trying to see what it was that Riku had found. It was some sort of stamp, a stamp for a sigil. Iori looked closer and understood what it was that had Riku a bit out of it. The sigil was adorned by a bird engulfed in flames. 

“It’s the same.” He said and looked at Riku, who nodded with a distressed look on his face. “It’s the same sigil as the one that adorned the letter that ordered the death of the Myronian queen.” Iori clarified. Riku nodded again before he, too, spoke. “Do you think that, whoever was living here before, is the same person as the one who wanted to kill the queen, and possibly started the fire at the gala as well?” Riku questioned. 

Iori gulped and looked at the other seriously. “I’m not sure, but it certainly is possible. We should probably investigate this cave more thoroughly before we leave.” He said. Riku silently agreed with him. They could hear voices getting louder and assumed that Mitsuki and Sougo had probably found Nagi by now and that they were headed towards them. Riku turned to look at Iori again. “Do you think we should tell them? It’s not like we have any definitive proof as of right now, it’s mostly speculations…” He asked. 

Iori put a finger to his own mouth in thought. “Technically, we’re probably not even supposed to investigate this, but I suppose it won’t hurt. And like you said, we don’t know anything for certain, all we’ve got is a few theories… But maybe it won’t hurt to consult them? I don’t know about you, but I trust them. At least, I trust Nii-san, Yotsuba-san, Osaka-san, Rokuya-san and Nikaido-san.” Iori said. 

Riku nodded. “I don’t know them as well as you do, obviously, but from what I’ve seen, I’d like to trust them. And I know I trust you, so I’ll believe you if you say they are trustworthy.” Iori smiled at him. It was then that Mitsuki and Sougo came back, with Nagi and a few others in tow. Seeing the two, Nagi’s face immediately lit up and he swept them up into a bone-crushing hug. “Oh my god! I am so glad you two are safe! Don't you dare just disappear on me like that again!” He said loudly and dramatically, had Riku and Iori been able to breath in Nagi’s hold, they would have laughed at his tone. 

Nagi soon let go of the two, and once they had all gathered together they started getting ready to leave the cave behind, once and for all. Iori and Riku had explained that they wanted to investigate the cave before they left. No one was very keen on this, so in the end they just packed down everything that looked like it could be of importance from the cave into bags, bringing it with them in order to investigate it further once they got back. 

Iori and Riku had also decided to wait until they got back to Nesbury to tell Mitsuki and the others about all that they knew about the strange things that had happened in both Myronia and Pandragora. They wanted to get their own thoughts together first, and they wanted to do it in a calmer environment. 

Since they had now finished what they had originally set out to do and had even ended up finding more than they had expected, it was time to head back down the mountain. The way down ended up being both faster and easier than what they had walked on the way up, Riku’s condition wasn’t bothering him very much, and the mood among the members of the little company was great. In just a few days’ time, they could see Nesbury in the distance, glad to finally be done in the mountains.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally found Mitsuki, Sougo and Tamaki! Yay! ^^ I'm excited, because in the next couple of chapters they will all be together, I just love i7 interractions! (even though ioriku are the ones I enjoy the most) Anyway, I'll be back as usual on Wednesday with the next update! Thank you all so much for leaving kudos, comments and for just supporting this story! <3


	31. Return to Nesbury

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After they found Mitsuki, Sougo and Tamaki, the group returns to Nesbury. What will happen next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! It's time for another update! ^^ This chapter is partly supposed to wrap up the Nesbury/mountains arc, but it's also kind of an introduction to the next arc that will officially start on Saturday ;) Also, @xSakurafubuki made some more amazing fanart so be sure to check it out: https://twitter.com/EFagerhag/status/1115972530244861953  
> Now then, I hope you enjoy this chapter! If you wanna talk to me or something, you can find me either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

“Tsumugi!” Riku called out the moment he and the others entered the inn where they had been staying before they left for the mountains. Tsumugi, who was stood by one of the tables, immediately turned around at the sound of her name being called out. Her face lit up once she saw who it was. “Riku-san! You’re back!” She exclaimed happily as she rushed over to meet them.

The moment she reached them, she started looking Riku over, he pouted the moment he realized what she was doing. “Are you hurt anywhere?” She asked worriedly. Riku sighed but then smiled at her, after all, she just cared about him. “I’m fine, just a bit tired. Thank you though.” He said. Tsumugi smiled back and nodded, then, her expression turned frightened. “Oh no! I forgot to greet the others! How rude of me!” She exclaimed and turned to Iori, Mitsuki and the rest. “Welcome back all of you! I am glad to see that you all made it back safely! I am also glad you were able to reunite with your brother, Iori-san!” She said in a panic. 

Riku chuckled at her antics, and the others simply smiled at her. After a while though, Nagi stepped forward, grabbed Tsumugi’s hand and brought it up to his lips. Tsumugi’s face flushed and she gasped. “Seeing such a beautiful lady welcome me back is the best remedy I could have wished for after such a long and difficult journey! You have truly blessed me with your presence, My Lady.” He said with a wink at the end. Tsumugi looked as if she was about to pass out. 

Riku figured he should probably help Tsumugi, she was so flustered she had no idea what to do. He walked up and took her hand out of Nagi’s grip. “Tsumugi’s amazing, right? She’s the best, which is why I’d like her to help me out for a bit.” Riku said to the rest of the group while smiling. He then turned to Tsumugi and said; “Let’s go.” She sighed and nodded, relieved that Riku had helped her out of that situation. Though, she had to admit that it made her feel a little bit happy. 

Iori, Mitsuki, Nagi, Yamato, Sougo and Tamaki all watched as Riku and Tsumugi walked away up the stairs. They were all tired, so they decided that they would just rest for now, and that they would reconvene in the morning in order to decide where to go from there. 

The next morning, Iori and Riku quickly got started on sorting out and looking through everything they had been able to bring from the cave that they had found. Obviously, they couldn’t bring any of the bigger things, like the bed or the kettles and crates, and there hadn’t been that much other than that, only a few books and some trinkets, all which they had been able to fit in two bags. 

There didn’t seem to be anything of importance at first, a lot of it was just empty bottles, there was a pair of binoculars, some utensils and a small knife. Some of the books were in a language neither Iori or Riku could understand or identify, the rest of it all seemed rather insignificant. There had been an atlas, a book with children’s fairy tales, a book with basic recipes and some books on the history of the world. They couldn’t make heads or tails of what they’d found, maybe it had just been some homeless person living up there, away from everyone else, maybe it wasn’t important, but Riku couldn’t let go of the feeling that whoever had been living in there had been important. Important in what way? He wasn’t sure, he just felt like this was something they shouldn’t simply dismiss. 

Riku sighed, they’d been at it for hours by now, they had also been joined by Mitsuki, Nagi, Sougo, Tamaki and Yamato a while back. Iori had explained everything to them, about the sigil Tenn was investigating, about what Riku had seen in Northmeir and how it might be related to the Queen’s assassination. They had all said it was quite farfetched, but they had also agreed that it was an interesting theory nonetheless, and they would like to help if there was anything they could do. 

Riku was just about to give up, to stop looking and just admit that the cave they had found was really nothing important, when Iori actually managed to find something. “Hey, come look at this!” He said, after which everyone quickly made their way over to where he was sat on the edge of the bed. “I think there’s a name engraved at the bottom of this page.” He said and pointed at the very bottom on the last page of the book filled with fairy tales, and there was indeed some sort of writing down there. “It’s really faded, so it’s probably quite old, it also makes it a bit hard to make out and a part of it seems to be illegible. If I’m not mistaken, it says ‘Tsukumo’” He said. 

Riku sat down right next to Iori and took the book from him, and sure enough, he too could see the faded letters spelling out the name ‘Tsukumo’, there had clearly been more, but those letters were now too faded to read. He looked up at Iori and smiled brightly, then he threw his arms around the other’s neck and hugged him tightly. “Iori, you’re amazing! Do you think this ‘Tsukumo’ person was the owner of the book? If so, then maybe he or she was the one who lived in that cave!” Riku exclaimed as he pulled away from Iori, who was a bit too flustered to answer immediately, instead he simply nodded and smiled back shyly. 

“Tsukumo?” Yamato wondered aloud. Everyone in the room turned to him. “Do you recognize it?” Iori asked. Yamato thought for a while, then he answered. “Are you sure it says Tsukumo? Not something else?” He asked seriously. Iori nodded and showed Yamato the writing, he looked at it and sighed. “None of you recognize the name Tsukumo? I thought they were quite famous.” He said. Everyone shook their heads. 

“Well…” Yamato started. “Tsukumo is the name of the very first royal family of Myronia. The ones who reigned after the world split into two countries instead of one. Pandragora has somehow managed to keep the same royal family throughout the centuries, and even if there were wars, the ones who sided with the king and queen always won in the end. Myronia was different, however, as you know, they’ve changed rulers multiple times, Yaotome is the current royal family, while Tsukumo was the very first.” He explained. 

Everyone sat quiet, none of them really knew how to deal with this new knowledge. Did the book in their hands really belong to a descendant of the original Myronian royal family? It felt surreal. “What happened to them? To the Tsukumo family, I mean.” Riku asked. Yamato rubbed the back of his head and sighed before continuing. 

“Well, no one knows for certain, one day, they just up and disappeared. Although, according to some legends, the Tsukumo family was the reason why Myronia and Pandragora split up into two different countries in the first place. I don’t know how or why, but before the Tsukumo family came, the two countries were one and there was peace in the world. But like I said, it’s just a story, I don’t know if it’s actually true, it did happen over one thousand years ago, after all.” Yamato explained. 

"So, wait.” Mitsuki said. “If Tsukumo was the one who lived in the cave, and is also the one who owned the book, doesn’t that mean that the sigil you found is also the sigil of the Tsukumo family? And if so, aren’t they behind the assassination of the Myronian queen?” He asked. Everyone was silent, they hadn’t really thought about that before. “You’re right.” Riku said. “Is there a way to find the sigil of old Myronian royalty? If so, we can compare them, and if it’s a match, that would mean that the Tsukumo family are probably responsible for the queen’s death, and maybe the fire in Northmeir as well.” Riku thought out loud. 

Sougo let out a gasp. “There might be a way! I can’t promise that we’ll find anything, but my dad has kept information on all of our business partners for as long as our family have been in this line of work. And I know for a fact that the Osakas have been around and done business since just a few years after Pandragora was formed. There might be information on the Tsukumo family in those documents!” He said. 

Everyone looked at each other, they had a lead, for what, they weren’t exactly sure, but they all felt like they couldn’t back out of it know. Iori was the next to speak. “So, does that mean we’re going back to see your father?” Sougo nodded. Their next destination had been decided, the Osaka mansion. 

The entire group was stood outside of the Osaka family’s home. Iori had tried to get Riku to stay back, considering what had happened the last time they were there, but, just like when they were arguing about whether or not Riku should go into the mountains, Riku had managed to convince Iori to let him come along. Because of this, Iori was determined to not let the other out of his sight, he wasn’t sure just what Osaka Soushi was capable of doing after all. 

Sougo sighed and Tamaki turned to him. “Does your dad know you’re back?” He asked. Sougo just shrugged. “Probably. I haven’t spoken to him, but word travels fast here, especially if you’re part of my family. We got back yesterday, so surely he has heard about it by know.” He explained. Tamaki nodded. 

They all walked up to the house and entered. The moment they got inside, the staff all turned to greet Sougo, pleased, but not surprised to see him back, basically confirming Sougo’s theory about his father knowing of his return. Because Sougo was the oldest son of the Osaka family, they didn’t really need to go through Soushi to get access to the documents they needed, Sougo simply asked one of the staff members to take them all there. However, the moment Osaka Soushi learned where they were, he would undoubtedly come after them, and whether he would stop them or not remained to be seen. 

They were taken down into the basement, into a room that looked like an empty study, filled with bookcases and crates overflowing with different books and documents. The employee who had shown them the way quickly excused himself and left them to their own devises. 

“Well,” Sougo started. “It’s only a matter of time before my father learns what we’re doing, I’d like to keep him out of it if possible, so let’s try and go through as much as we can before he comes to find us.” He then said. The rest of the group all agreed and started going through the books and documents. 

“What exactly is it we’re looking for again?” Asked Mitsuki. “Information on businesses my family did near the founding of Pandragora, it will most likely be in one of the books, I’m pretty sure all these loose documents are the newer ones, the information on our business partners we’ve had under the current head of the family’s time. In other words, the ones my father has personally worked with.” Sougo explained. They all nodded and focused on searching through the bookshelves. 

It took them awhile, but they finally found what they had been looking for. Nagi was the one who found it. “Here! I found three books from around the relevant time!” He exclaimed. Everyone gathered around him as they started going through the books. Nagi, Yamato and Mitsuki looked through one together, Sougo and Tamaki took another one, and Iori and Riku looked through the last. 

“Hey, Sou-chan, isn’t that the sigil we’re looking for?” Tamaki suddenly asked, successfully grabbing everybody’s attention. “It is. The Tsukumo family’s sigil. It matches the one from the assassination order.” Sougo stated, after which he showed it to the others. They all took turns looking at it, and sure enough, the Tsukumo family’s sigil was that of a fire-breathing bird. 

“So, does that mean the Myronian queen’s death is really the Tsukumo family’s doing?” Yamato asked. “They’re probably not the ones who carried it out, but they are most likely the ones who gave the order. Unless they’re being framed, I suppose.” Riku answered. “If they wanted to frame someone, they would most likely choose a more recognizable sigil, what would be the point to use this if no one knew what it meant? It’s more likely that they did in fact use their own since no one knows of it anymore.” Iori said. Riku nodded after having thought about it for a while, concluding that Iori was probably right. 

“Well, well, what are you up to?” Came a voice from the door. Everybody turned their heads around to face the newcomer, and unsurprisingly, it turned out to be Osaka Soushi. “Father.” Sougo stated. They closed the books they had looked in and put them away. Riku then moved to stand behind Iori, hoping to avoid Osaka Soushi’s attention. 

“I don’t see why you boys would have any business here. Get out.” He said sternly. Sougo gulped, but nodded nonetheless, they had already found what they had been looking for after all, and by now everyone was more than ready to leave. However, as they left, Riku tripped over one of the crates and fell to the floor, taking the crate and all of the documents with him. 

“Oi, be careful!” Osaka Soushi roared. Riku winced at the sound of his voice. Iori had quickly bent down to be by Riku’s side, making sure the other hadn’t gotten hurt in the fall. “I’m okay Iori, you don’t have to worry.” Riku answered as he smiled at Iori. He was just about to get up when something caught his attention. 

“I’ll be going to stay at the inn for a day or two, don’t expect me back home again until then.” Sougo said, creating a much-wanted distraction. Osaka Soushi turned to his son, and with him everyone else in the room. The atmosphere was tense, but Riku was happy with it as he quickly snatched the document that had stood out and hid it underneath his coat. He then stood up and took ahold of Iori’s arm. 

After a few more seconds of an intense silent conversation between father and son, Sougo led Tamaki, Iori, Riku, Nagi, Yamato and Mitsuki out of the room and out of the house. Then they all headed back to the inn. 

The group was now back at the inn, gathered in one of the bedrooms. They had been discussing what to do now, but they had trouble deciding on something, there was simply not enough information yet. Riku had been strangely quiet ever since they left the Osaka mansion, and Iori was starting to get a bit worried. “Riku, is everything alright?” He asked. 

Riku looked up at him and blinked in confusion, he had clearly spaced out before Iori had addressed him. All eyes in the room was now turned to him. “Yeah, I’m fine. I was just thinking.” Riku answered. Iori sat down beside the redhead on the bed. “About what?” He asked concerned. 

Riku sighed and turned to look at Sougo this time. “When we were in that room, didn’t you say that the documents that were in the crates were all about business partners your father has been working with personally?” He asked. Sougo nodded, he wasn’t sure what Riku was getting at, but it seemed serious. “When I tripped over that crate and all those papers flooded the floor, I saw something.” Riku continued, after which he pulled out a paper from the inside of his coat. He then handed the paper to Sougo. 

“That was inside of the crate.” He said. Sougo’s eyes widened as he saw what it was. “No way. That’s not… I mean, that can’t be!” He said. “What?” Nagi and Tamaki asked in unison. Sougo swallowed and turned the paper around so that the others could see. “It’s got information on something called the ‘Tsukumo Group’ and the sigil is the same as the one for the Tsukumo family. This has to be the one that’s responsible for the queen’s death, since it’s a recent document. And my father has apparently done business with them.” Sougo said. 

Everyone stared at the paper, just like Sougo had said, it said ‘The Tsukumo Group’ and the same sigil as the one that adorned the letter ordering the queen’s death could clearly be made out, the sigil of the Tsukumo family adorned the bottom of the page. Since Riku had only grabbed the first page, they didn’t know what sort of business the Osakas had done with the Tsukumo Group, but they could only assume it wasn’t anything good. 

Before anyone got the chance to comment on the find, there was a knock on the door. Iori went to open it only to see Tsumugi standing there. She peeked her head inside. “Riku-san, a letter arrived for you! I believe it’s from Tenn-san!” She said happily. Riku face immediately lit up as he went over to her to get it. “Really? It’s been so long since I read one of his letters! Thank you, Tsumugi!” He said. Tsumugi nodded and then she left. 

Riku excitedly opened the letter and read it. Partway through it, however, his expression turned grim. “Iori.” He said quietly. Iori turned to him, a concerned expression on his face. “What is it?” He asked carefully. “I want to go to Myronia. I want to see my brother.” Riku simply said. 

Iori frowned. “Did something happen to your brother?” He asked worriedly, he knew how much Tenn meant to Riku, so he also knew that Riku would be completely broken by the knowledge that something bad had happened to his beloved twin brother. “No. Not necessarily.” Riku said, but then he looked up at the others, his face deadly serious. “But someone new just joined their investigation unit. A man named Tsukumo Ryou.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THEY'RE GOING TO MYRONIA!!! I'm really excited to share these next couple of chapters with you guys, I know I say this a lot, but the "Myronia arc" is probably my favourite so far! (Although I haven't finished writing it yet...) Was it obvious that I was gonna take them to Myronia or did it throw you off? Also, what part does Tsukumo Ryou play in all of this? ;) Anyway, I hope you liked this, and like I said earlier, I'll be back on Saturday with the next chapter! ^^ Thank you so much for supporting this story, whether it be by leaving kudos, comments, bookmarks or by sharing it or messaging me or drawing fanart! Everything makes me super happy! <3<3


	32. Crossing the Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group have decided to travel to Myronia next, in order to alert Tenn of the possible danger lurking right by his side, and the time has finally come to cross the sea that separates the two countries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for a new update! I hope you'll enjoy it! ^^  
> If you want to contact me anywhere else, you can find me either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

It was a very nice day, the sun was out, it wasn’t too warm or too cold, there was a light breeze which felt very nice, the scent of the sea that surrounded them on all sides of the ship was extremely refreshing. Yes, it was a very nice and calm day. However, Iori was anything but calm at the moment.

It was only the day before that Riku had received the letter from his brother from which he learned that Tenn and the rest of the group dealing with the investigation had been joined by a man going by the name Tsukumo Ryou. And if Riku, Iori and the rest were correct, this man might have something to do with the assassination of the queen, and maybe even the fire in Northmeir. 

Everyone had been shocked when they learned of Tsukumo Ryou, and that he was supposedly a part of the investigation unit. They didn’t really know what to make of the situation, but it unsettled them deeply, especially Riku, who was a bit worried that his brother might be in the company of a possible criminal. Riku had insisted that they let him go back to Myronia in order to warn his brother, to tell him what they had discovered. At first, they had all been against it, they didn’t know if what they had were enough proof, they also weren’t sure of what possible risks came with the task. In the end, however, Riku convinced them that it would be best to let the investigation unit know of their find. 

Iori would, of course, not let Riku go alone. In fact, no one in the small group that had somehow been formed over the last couple of days wanted to let the redhead go on his own. And so, this morning they had all boarded a ship that would cross the sea and take them from Pandragora to Myronia. The ones onboard were Iori and Riku, Tamaki and Sougo, as well as Yamato, Nagi and Mitsuki. 

They had let Tsumugi know what they were doing, not every single detail, but enough so that she would be able to give a satisfying explanation as to why they had all suddenly decided to visit the other country. She had said farewell to them earlier that morning, as well as made sure that Riku had everything he needed and that he was in good hands. She had then taken off in order to go back to the Izumi mansion in Lawlee to let Mister and Madame Izumi know what their children were up to. 

They had been on the ship for about an hour now, and Iori could no longer see Pandragora along the horizon. He had only been to Myronia once before, and he barely remembered that since he was so young at the time, and while he had wanted to return someday, he had not expected it to be under these circumstances. In fact, a lot of things had happened recently that he never could have dreamt would ever happen to him. 

Everything had of course started with the news that the Myronian queen had been assassinated, which led to his parents making the decision that he would get married to Riku. The marriage itself had been a huge event, and even though Iori’s relationship with Riku was currently really good, it certainly hadn’t been that way from the beginning. He remembered how upset the other had been, he remembered the struggles during the first days after their marriage, since they had barely known one another it was rather awkward at first. He remembered finding out first about his medical condition, and then about his gender, and about how these things both changed everything about their relationship, but also solidified what they had at the time. 

Iori also thought back to their trip to Northmeir, how excited Riku had been to visit the capital. Thinking back on it, the other had been extremely cute when walking through the streets of Northmeir for the first time. He remembered the gala, how it had started out nice, for example the dance he and Riku shared, and then how the entire thing had been ruined by the fire. He remembered carrying Riku outside in a panic, and he remembered how the other had been more concerned for the small cut on Iori’s leg than the fact that he himself had just collapsed. 

Iori then recalled Kinako, the little girl Riku had befriended, and smiled bitterly. She seemed like a really sweet girl, but she was also the reason for their first actual fight, which seemed really silly in hindsight. This train of thought brought him to their time in Iroche and how it had really served to bring them a lot closer. Thinking back on it now, his feelings for the other boy had probably already started to change back then without him noticing. 

Iori sighed. Had he really fallen in love with Riku? Sure, they were already married so most people would probably not see any problem with this, in fact, they would probably be happy for him, glad that he had been able to fall in love with the ‘wife’ that his parents had chosen for him. And yet, there was a part of him that felt as if he had done something bad, as if this development wasn’t supposed to have happened. What would Riku say if he ever found out? They had gotten really close lately, and Iori was sure that the other had come to care for him as well. However, he didn’t want his own feelings to mess things up between them. He didn’t want to risk losing what they currently had. 

He sighed again and looked over to the front of the ship where Riku was stood, looking out over the horizon. Sougo was with him and they seemed to be talking quite seriously about something. Iori was a bit worried, he just hoped that Riku wouldn’t do anything too drastic once they found his brother. 

Iori must have been a bit distracted, because he didn’t even notice when his own brother walked up to him and leaned against the same part of the railing as Iori. It was first when the other addressed him that he noticed his presence. “Iori, is everything okay?” Mitsuki asked. Iori jumped slightly and looked over at his brother, a light blush tinting his cheeks and a frown adoring his face. “Don’t sneak up on people like that!” Iori scolded, earning only a chuckle from his brother in reply before he continued. “And I’m fine. It’s Riku I’m worried about.” 

Mitsuki frowned and nodded. “How is she?” Iori had turned his head back around and was looking at Riku once more when he answered. “She’s fine, at least that’s what she says. I can see that she worries though, but that’s understandable. I just hope she doesn’t work herself up too much, it wouldn’t be good for her condition.” He said. 

Mitsuki looked at Iori, and then he followed Iori’s gaze and found he was looking at the same person they were talking about. When he observed his younger brother’s behavior, he was honestly a bit taken aback. It had been years since he had seen so much emotion on Iori’s face while looking at someone who wasn’t him or their parents. Then it was like he was hit by lightning. A smirk started forming on his lips and he nudged Iori in the side. 

“So, you seem to care an awful lot about Riku, eh?” He asked while giving Iori a knowing look. Iori, who had torn his gaze away from the redhead upon feeling his brother nudge him in the side, could now feel his face heat up at Mitsuki’s implications. “W-well, of course I do. She’s a very nice person, and she helped me out when I was looking for you, so now I have to look out for her too.” He said, trying not to bait Mitsuki further. It failed. 

“You’ve fallen for her, haven’t you?” Mitsuki asked, a big smile on his lips. Iori just scoffed and blushed a deeper red. “That’s none of your business!” He exclaimed, which just amused Mitsuki even more. His brother really had it bad. “You’re not denying it.” Mitsuki pointed out, which earned him a punch in the arm. “Ouch! Brother abuse!” He said, which made Iori smile. That smile soon faded however and was replaced by a frown. 

Iori sighed. “You’re right. I can’t really explain it, but we’ve been through a lot and not everything that happened was good. She’s already been through so much, I don’t want to see her suffer anymore. But even though she’s been through a lot of difficult and painful things, she’s very easily excitable and when she’s happy there is this glow around her that’s almost blinding. She’s smart and observant, although she can be a bit oblivious or naïve sometimes, which is honestly kind of cute. She’s also stubborn and strong and extremely kind.” 

Mitsuki smiled as Iori talked, he could see that his brother seemed to really have grown fond of his wife, which made Mitsuki very happy as he had been worried about this arranged marriage from the start. Iori kept going. “There’s a lot more, but I don’t really know how to put it all into words. I’m not sure when I started feeling like this, but I only realized it a couple of days ago, while we were up in the mountains. I just don’t know what to do now that I know…” Iori finished, then he looked at his brother, his expression was practically begging for advice. 

Mitsuki chuckled. “Why are you looking at me like that? I don’t see the problem. You’re already married, and yet you seem troubled by the fact that you managed to fall in love with her? I thought you’d be relieved.” He said. Iori sighed and looked away. “I know, it’s just kind of complicated… I also haven’t talked to Riku about this, I don’t think she’s realized how I feel.” He said sadly. 

Mitsuki felt sympathy for his brother. He had been thrown straight into a marriage without any prior experience in romance, heck, Mitsuki was almost certain that Iori had never even had a crush on anyone before. This was all new to him and Mitsuki could see just how lost he felt. “Well, I’ve never really been in a serious relationship before myself, so I don’t really know if I’ll be able to be of any help, but I really don’t think you have to worry too much. Now, I don’t know Riku nearly as well as you do, but I think she’s quite fond of you too.” Mitsuki told Iori while giving him the gentlest smile he could manage. 

“I just don’t want to ruin what we already have! It was so awkward and uncomfortable in the beginning, and I feel like we’re in a really good place right now.” Iori exclaimed. “Iori…” Mitsuki muttered as he looked at his brother. “What if Riku get’s mad and it all just get’s ruined?” Iori then asked and Mitsuki just gave him a dumbfounded look. “Okay, I really don’t think she would be angry with you for falling in love with her, and even if she did, you’re already married, what could go wrong?” 

“Divorce is still a thing, right?” Iori suggested. Mitsuki shook his head. “Okay, first off, mom and dad would actually kill you if you made your wife divorce you after such a short time, and secondly, why do you always go straight to the worst-case scenario? I get that you’re worried, but if you keep playing everything safe like this, you’ll end up losing what you love. You need to start acting more on your emotions and just take a chance, or you’ll come to regret it in the future.” Mitsuki lectured. 

Iori looked down at his feet. “I’m not going to risk making her unhappy just to appease my own worries.” He mumbled. Mitsuki just stared at Iori in disbelief. “She really means that much to you?” He asked. For a while, Iori just stood there silent, then he nodded. Mitsuki sighed. “I’m just saying, I can see that you already make her happy, maybe it’s time you start making yourself happy too.” Mitsuki said, then he patted Iori’s shoulder and walked over to where Nagi and Tamaki were stood, looking down into the ocean and trying to spot some fish. 

Iori sighed, he understood what his brother meant, and he really thought that what he had said was important, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that now really wasn’t the right time to talk to Riku about this. He decided that it would be best to wait, Mitsuki was right in that he needed to tell Riku, but he decided that it could wait. They had more important things to think about now after all. 

A few hours later, they could see the shores of Myronia in the distance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, despite the fact that not much happened, but the story will pick up and get a bit more exciting next week! Also, I too want a Mitsuki to support me and give advice!!! I really enjoy writing his and Iori's interractions! Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and a bigger thanks to those who shows their support of this fanfic by leaving kudos/comments etc! Thank you all so much! I'm really grateful! <3<3<3


	33. Planning Ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori, Riku and the rest finally arrive in Myronia, but what will they do next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new chapter! ^^ I don't really have anything to say today, so I just hope that you guys will enjoy this new update! <3 If you want to ask me something or just chat with me, you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Riku took a deep breath as he walked off the ship, it felt weird to be back in Myronia. Even though it had only been about two months since he left, so much had happened that it felt like he had been gone for years. He looked at the scenery around him, Port Nezok looked basically the same as it had when he and his family had left for Pandragora. Although, at the time he had other things on his mind and hadn’t been able to properly take in the place. He noticed that it was actually rather beautiful, much more so than he had remembered.

He felt a presence behind him and turned around, only to see Iori standing there giving him a concerned look. The others were currently busy unloading their packing from the ship and getting settled, in the meantime, Iori had decided to go check on Riku. “How are you feeling?” He asked as he also placed a hand on Riku’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. 

Riku smiled up at him. “I’m fine. It feels like it's been so long since I was here last time, even though it’s technically only been about two months. It’s a bit weird.” He said. Iori nodded. “Yeah, it’s crazy that it’s only been two months since we met, it feels like I’ve known you for years.” Iori stated. This got Riku to smile and laugh lightly. “I know, right? So much has changed! Remember how I had a nervous breakdown that first night? At the time, I just kind of wanted to run away from it all…” 

Iori turned to look out over the ocean, a bittersweet smile on his lips. “And now?” Iori asked quietly, and for a moment Riku wasn’t sure if he had actually said something. He turned to look at Iori, tilted his head to the side and gave him a questioning look. “Hm? What do you mean?” He asked. 

Iori didn’t tear his gaze away from the waves for even a second as he kept talking. “I know how you felt about all of this in the beginning, it wasn’t that hard to figure out that you had been strongly against it… But what about now?” Iori hadn’t planned on bringing this up now, and he suddenly wished he had just kept his mouth shut. He felt like he definitely didn’t want to hear whatever Riku would say next. 

“Well…” Riku started. “I’m still upset with my parents, that they would force me to do this just to have a connection with Pandragora if something went wrong. But I also feel kind of grateful, because I got to meet you!” Riku said and smiled brightly at Iori. Iori turned to look at the other and instantly felt his face heat up and his heart beat faster. Iori struggled to understand how that single line, combined with that smile could affect him to such an extent, but he wouldn’t say that he particularly disliked it. 

“I never thought I’d get along with you as well as I do, and even though it’s been stressful, I’ve also had a lot of fun! I got to meet so many new people who are all so nice, I got to see many new places and experience many new things that I could only dream about back when I lived with my parents in Laball. And it’s all because of you, Iori. I know I’ve already said this, but thank you so much! I really like you!” Riku said. 

Iori needed a moment. He brought his hand up to his face to try to cover the blush. What had he done to deserve someone so good and pure in his life? Iori couldn’t really think clearly as he reached a hand out toward Riku. “I…” He started but was interrupted by the redhead. “I’ve never had a better friend than you, in all my life!” 

Okay, that hurt. Iori wasn’t sure why it had hit him so hard, it was what he had expected after all. Still, the moment Riku said that, he felt a heavy weight settle itself inside his stomach. “Iori?” Riku asked, eyeing him weirdly. Iori forced himself to smile at the other boy. “It’s nothing, I really like you too.” He said, trying to sound like he usually did. 

Riku seemed to be happy with his answer as he smiled brightly at Iori before he saw that Mitsuki and the others were finished, and so he pulled Iori over to join the others. Iori tried his best to collect himself as he was dragged over to where the rest of the tiny group were standing. He told himself that he should be happy that he had even managed to get Riku to like him in the first place, after everything that had happened, even if it was only as a friend. 

“So,” Yamato started the moment Iori and Riku had joined them. “What’s the plan?” Everyone turned to Riku as he was both the one who had wanted to come in the first place and the one with, supposedly, the most knowledge about Myronia. “Well, we find my brother and this Tsukumo Ryou person.” Riku answered determinedly. 

The others looked at him questioningly, as if saying ‘is that it?’ Iori was the one who voiced their concerns though. “I think he asked for something more concrete, like where do we start looking? Where will we go?” He said and the others nodded their heads. Riku looked deep in thought. “Well…” He started. “I don’t actually know where they are at the moment, but I guess we could either go to Laball, where I’m from, because my parents might know something about it. Or maybe we could try going to Talin instead, I know for a fact that Yaotome Gaku, the Myronian prince, is part of the investigation. The royal family would most likely know where they are.” Riku explained. 

“Maybe Talin would be our best bet then, it seems as if the royal family is our most reliable source of information as of now.” Iori said. “Unless you want to go home, of course!” Mitsuki added which made Iori flinch. He then remembered that his brother didn’t know about Riku’s complicated relationship with his parents and hadn’t meant anything by it. He could see the redhead get a bit stiff for a moment, but he soon relaxed and smiled at Mitsuki. 

“It’s fine. I agree that the royal family is a more reliable source, so Iori’s idea is probably our best shot.” He said and the others nodded in reply. Iori released a breath that he had been holding, he hoped they wouldn’t need to visit the Nanases, if only because it might hurt Riku if they did. 

“If we leave soon, we might be able to get there before nightfall.” Riku said, after which they all went to try and find a ride to the capital. It didn’t take them very long, and soon they were on their way. 

Just like Riku had said, they arrived in Talin just before the sun set, however, None of them were really familiar with Talin. Tamaki and Sougo had never been to any part of Myronia before. Iori and Mitsuki had been once when they were much younger, meaning they barely remembered any of it. Nagi had actually been born there, it was sort of a funny story in his family, his parents were visiting while his mother carried him and then she had ended up going into labor before they could return to Pandragora. He had however not returned to Talin, or any other part of Myronia, since that time. Yamato had visited Myronia twice, and remembered both times rather vividly, but he had never been to the capital before. Riku, who was born and raised in Myronia, hadn’t been allowed to leave home, so everything he knew was either from books or stories told by his brother. 

Talin was a big city, the biggest in Myronia, but it wasn’t the size that really made it stand out, it was the architecture. Most of the buildings were tall with intricate designs that made them all look beautiful, yet they were also very practical. Riku had always been excited to visit Talin, it was here most of Tenn’s stories took place after all. He had always thought it would make him feel more like an equal to his brother. And yet, now that he was here, he felt like there was so much distance between them, not physically necessarily, but it became apparent that they had really been made to walk down two completely different paths. 

The group had exited the carriages that they’d traveled with in the outskirts of the capital, as they chose to walk the rest of the way. “So, Riku.” Yamato addressed the redhead who simply looked at him questioningly. “Where to now?” He then asked. Riku just tilted his head to the side. “Why are you asking me that?” Riku asked confused. The rest turned to look at him with shocked expressions, except for Iori who just gave him a sympathetic smile. 

“Well, you’re the only Myronian here, neither of us really know the capital, and besides, it was your idea to come here.” Yamato then explained. Riku put a finger to his chin and looked up in thought. “I’m from Myronia, yes, but I’m not from Talin, I’m from Laball. I’ve never been here either, so I really don’t know where we’re going... Although, if it’s a plan you want, then maybe we could try and find some type of inn or hotel where we can stay the night? It’s getting quite late, so we should wait until tomorrow to try and find out about my brother’s whereabouts.” He explained. Iori nodded but the others still only looked at Riku with shock. 

“Wait, you’ve never been to Talin before? How come?” Mitsuki asked. “Because of my condition.” Riku simply answered. In this moment, realization dawned on Mitsuki’s face as he remembered that Riku’s health had been really weak since he was a child. The others, however, still looked just as confused. “Your condition?” Sougo repeated questioningly. “Are you sick, Ricchan?” Tamaki followed, suddenly looking really concerned for Riku, as did the everyone else too, excpet for Iori and Mitsuki that is. 

Riku smiled at the others, glad to see that they cared, but not really wanting to explain it all to them. He didn’t want them to treat him differently because of something like this. Nonetheless, he gave them an explanation, albeit a very simple one. “You don’t have to worry though! I have asthma, I’ve had it ever since I was just a child so I’m kind of used to it by now… But because of that, I was very weak when I was younger, and I wasn’t allowed to leave home. That’s why I’ve never been to Talin, in fact, the first time I left Laball was for mine and Iori’s wedding.” He said, earning sympathetic glances from everyone but Iori, who figured that wasn’t what Riku would want right now. Riku didn’t say it, but he was extremely thankful for it. 

It got a bit awkward after that, the others didn’t really know what to say to this new piece of information. In the end, it was Mitsuki who broke the silence. “Well, even if you’ve never been here before and can't show us around, I think your plan sounds great. I’m sure we’ll find some place to stay if we just keep walking. We could always ask for directions as well.” He said, and everyone agreed. Mitsuki then walked up to Riku and patted his shoulder. “Sorry about that, I knew about your condition and yet I didn’t realize how much it used to restrict you. Just let us know if it’s hard on you.” He said. 

Riku smiled at him gratefully. “It’s really okay! I don’t usually talk about it that much, and I would actually prefer it if you didn’t go out of your way just for my sake. I know my own restrictions and I know how to deal with it if my asthma starts acting up. Like I said before, it’s nothing new, I’m used to it by now. I actually really liked how you guys weren’t making a big deal out of it, granted you didn’t know the full story… I appreciate that you care, but I’m not as weak as people tend to think when they hear about my health.” He told the other. 

Mitsuki smiled brightly at the redhead. “So I’ve noticed!” He said cheerfully, making Riku smile as well. The group walked through the streets of Talin, commenting on the things they saw along the way. They looked for about an hour before they had to ask someone where they could find a place to stay the night. An elderly woman helped them out and they soon found a small inn where they could spend their first night in Talin, before continuing their advetures in Myronia the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, what did you think? I know not much happened again this chapter, but things will really start on Saturday, so look forward to that! ^^ Also, I AM SO SORRY IORI I DIDN'T MEAN FOR RIKU TO FRIENDZONE YOU!!! (or did I? ;) ) Anyway, I really hope you liked this! Thank you to everyone who leaves kudos, comments or bookmarks, or to those who support me in other ways! <3<3<3


	34. The Myronian King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku and the others decide that they need to go talk with the Myronian king, what problems will they face now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a new chapter! I'm really excited about this chapter, as well as the next few chapters, they're probably my favourite part of this fanfic so I hope you'll enjoy it as well! Anyway, before you start reading I'd just like to warn you guys, there will be some graphic language towards the end of the chapter, it's not that much, I just thought I'd give you a heads up in case you're sensitive about that. ^^ With that out of the way, enjoy this chapter!  
> If you have any questions or just wanna talk to me, you can find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Morning came quickly, and once everyone had gotten ready for the day and eaten a proper breakfast, they had all gathered outside of the inn in which they had stayed the night. It was finally time to start discussing their plans. “So, where do we start?” Mitsuki asked, after which everyone turned to Riku, just as they had done the day before.

Riku was a bit nervous, he had never really been the one who made the plans, he usually just followed them. This kind of attention was all new to him, and it both made him happy and a little bit uncertain, he was glad they seemed to put their trust in him, but he was afraid of messing up or looking stupid. “Uhm…” He started while he thought of something to do. “Going off of what we said to do before, we’ll need to somehow get in touch with the royal family. I’ve never met them, but my brother is good friends with the prince, so while I can’t promise I’ll be able to get us in, that connection is probably our best bet.” He explained. 

“Hm…” Yamato hummed and looked deep in thought for a second before turning to look directly at Riku. “What about Nagi? Since he’s royalty, couldn’t that get us into the palace?” He asked. Riku just shook his head. “I would actually advice Nagi-san not to go in at all. In fact, it might be best if I went to talk to them by myself.” Riku said. This caught everybody’s attention as they all looked at the redhead in disbelief. 

“What? No way are we letting you go alone!” Iori exclaimed, the others agreed. Riku just sighed. “Look, it’s not that I want to go by myself, I just think that’s our best shot at getting to talk to them. The Yaotome family has been really on edge since the queen was killed, which is understandable, and you forget that Pandragora still hasn’t been fully cleared yet, as long as they believe that there is a possibility that Pandragora might be involved in some way, they are not going to just let you guys wander into palace!” He explained. 

“But we know for a fact that Pandragora isn’t behind this!” Nagi said. “I know! But they don’t know that, and that’s my point. Everyone is on edge because of the recent incidents, and all of you belong to one of the noble families of Pandragora, bringing you to the palace might just set them off. We’ll be most likely to get in if you guys don’t come along. Maybe you can ask around in town and see if you learn anything about the investigation while I go and try to talk to them.” Riku said. 

Iori scowled and lightly grabbed ahold of Riku’s shoulders, making the redhead look directly at him. “I get where you’re coming from, but I still don’t think you should go alone! At least let me go with you, I’m your husband, so it wouldn’t be weird, right?” He asked. Riku hesitated before answering. “I don’t know, I still don’t think we should bring Pandragoran nobility into the palace with these circumstances.” He said while averting his gaze from Iori’s. 

Iori just sighed. “But aren’t you technically Pandragoran nobility too? You have been ever since we got married, so why should it be any different?” He asked stubbornly. “I know that! That’s why I can’t promise I’ll get in, even using my brother’s connections… But I still think I’d have a better chance, even if it’s only a little, if I went without you. And besides, I was originally Myronian nobility." Riku explained, he then sighed and continued. "Listen, I would like nothing more than to bring you, I’m just trying to rationally think of how to make this a success.” He said as he reached a hand out to Iori, holding onto the front of the other’s shirt as he talked. 

Iori didn’t know what more to say, he still didn’t like the idea of Riku going alone, but the other made it quite hard to refuse him. “Uhm, I’m sorry to interrupt your moment…” Tamaki said as he stepped closer to Iori and Riku who had kind of disappeared into their own little world without noticing. They both started blushing as they realized how they must look to the others. Tamaki continued. “But if it would make you feel any better, I could go with Ricchan to the palace.” 

Iori and Riku both raised an eyebrow at Tamaki once they heard his suggestion. “Thanks for the concern, Yotsuba-san, but weren’t you listening to what Riku was saying? It would be bad to bring Pandragoran nobility.” Iori said and Riku nodded. Tamaki just sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “Like I said, that’s why I can go. I grew up in an orphanage, remember? I’m not nobility. Sure, I work for a noble family, but I’m not part of it. The name ‘Yotsuba’ most likely means nothing to them, so I bet I could go with Ricchan without them paying me any attention.” He explained with a big smile on his face. 

Iori looked a bit guilty at first, but it was soon replaced with something akin to relief. “Would that work?” He asked as he turned to Riku, who nodded. “I think so. I would honestly feel more comfortable with some company and if anyone could go, it would probably be Tamaki.” He said as he looked up at Iori with a smile. 

“Hell yeah!” Tamaki exclaimed, making everyone turn to him. “Don’t worry, Iorin, I won’t let anything bad happen to Ricchan!” He said cheerily as he grabbed Riku’s hand and started pulling him in the direction of the palace. “Let’s go!” He then shouted excitedly. Riku just looked a bit bewildered at Tamaki’s sudden enthusiasm. “Wait a minute! Tamaki! We need to discuss this more! Wait-!” 

In the end, they had managed to calm Tamaki down so that they could discuss their plan in more detail. They decided that Riku and Tamaki would head straight over to the royal palace in order to try and talk to some member of the royal family. If they managed to get in, they would try and get as much information as possible about Tenn and the investigation. The other five were going to hang around outside the palace, talking to people around there and see if they had any relevant information. Later that afternoon, they would rendezvous by the fountain in the square that was the closest to the palace. 

It had been awfully stressful and nerve-wracking, but some way or another, Riku and Tamaki had managed to get in. They had talked to the guards for about two hours before they were even allowed to enter the premises, after that, they’d had to wait another hour for someone to come and escort them. They had then been taken to some kind of office where they had to fill in multiple different documents, after which they were finally taken up to a corridor where they were to wait for the Myronian king to allow them entrance into his chamber. It had taken so long to get there, and they hadn’t been able to relax for even a second. Even when he had used his brother’s connections to the royal family, it had still been such a big process before they were allowed to meet with the king. Although, Riku supposed they should be lucky that they even managed to get to see the actual king, he had half been expecting to simply get to talk to some of the workers at best. 

He and Tamaki were sat in some chairs outside of the room in which the king supposedly was. They had been there for about twenty minutes by now and they were both getting tired of waiting. But then, finally, the door opened, and a young woman stepped out into the hallway. She turned to address the two boys, who immediately stood up and bowed to her, showing their respect. “The king will see you now.” She simply said as she ushered them into the room. 

Upon entering, they were greeted by a tall, pale man with fancy clothing, thick gray hair, thin gray eyes and glasses. He was scowling, which made him look rather grumpy in an intimidating sort of way. Even though he had never seen him in person before, Riku knew that the person in front of them was the king of Myronia, mostly from his brother’s stories. He bowed deeply and gestured for Tamaki to do the same. “Your Majesty.” Riku then greeted politely. 

The king, Yaotome Sousuke, waved his hand in a way that probably meant that they could stand up properly to face him. They looked at each other, but the king wasn’t saying anything, so Riku started instead. “I apologize that we come here on such a short notice, I’m sure you’re busy, but I am deeply grateful that you took some time to speak with us today.” He started. 

“My name is Izumi Riku, previously Nanase Riku. This is Yotsuba Tamaki, a good friend of mine." Riku continued and gestured to Tamaki who nodded at the king. "I come here on behalf of my brother, Nanase Tenn, who is a good friend of your son, Yaotome Gaku. You see, I wish to see him, but I do not know where he is at the moment, and I’m afraid I don’t have time to wait for a reply from him by letter. Since he’s part of the investigation unit led by the prince, I thought maybe you could tell me where they are currently stationed.” He explained, all the while making sure that he stood up straight and faced the king head on, as to seem both proud and polite at the same time. 

The king sighed. “Well, well, it’s good to finally meet you, I’ve heard some stories from your brother. Although, I have to admit that when you walked through those doors, I was quite shocked, you’re rather different from what your brother told me. You see, I seem to remember that Tenn only has one sibling, however, if I’m not mistaken he only told me of his precious younger br-“ Riku knew it was extremely rude and stupid to interrupt the king, but Tamaki was still in the room, and he didn’t want him to find out the truth, at least not like this. “I would love to talk about whatever stories my brother has told you in the past, but I am afraid I’ll have to be a bit rude. I’d like to know what you can tell me about the investigation of the queen’s murder, as well as their current status. If it’s possible.” Riku said to interrupt the older man. Tamaki looked at Riku questioningly, to which Riku only gave him a reassuring smile, hoping that he would let it go. 

The moment Riku had opened his mouth, a knowing smirk plastered itself on Sousuke’s lips, he must have realized what position Riku was in, and for a moment Riku was afraid he would keep trying to expose him. But instead he simply waved Riku and Tamaki over to where he was stood and started explaining. “The investigation is classified at the moment, so I’m afraid I can’t tell you much.” He started, Riku could tell he was not upset at all about not telling them more than he needed to though. 

“However, since you’re Tenn’s family, I can, however, give you the location they are currently visiting. Though I can’t ensure you that they will still be there by the time you arrive, nor can I give you any details as to why they are there. Is that okay with you?” Sousuke asked, a smug look on his face. Riku only smiled up at the older man. “Of course. I understand that you can’t reveal any classified information. Their current location is what I am the most curious about, so I’ll be deeply grateful if you would tell me that.” He said politely. 

Sousuke nodded. “Last I heard they were going to the village of Ariah, in the northwest, however, they did not plan on staying there. It seems they found something in Myram Forest, what they found, I can’t tell you.” He explained. Riku nodded. “I see. Is there anything more you can tell us?” He then asked, trying to get as much information as possible out of the king before they left. 

“Sadly, there isn’t. So, may I suggest you take your Pandragoran bodyguards out of my city?” Riku was a bit taken aback by this statement. ‘Bodyguards? Why plural?’ He thought. “Oh yes, I know of all of them. I don’t necessarily mind, but I know there are people out there who believes that all of the bad things that have happened recently were caused by Pandragorans. I don’t believe they would react too friendly upon meeting them.” Sousuke said, a smirk on his lips. This made both Tamaki and Riku react, they looked worriedly at each other before standing up and, once again, bowing to the king. 

“Well, thank you again for taking your time. We’ll follow your suggestion and leave as soon as we can. Goodbye, your majesty.” Riku said before turning to leave the room. “Goodbye.” Tamaki echoed and followed Riku out. The moment the door closed behind them Yaotome Sousuke started laughing wildly. “Ahh, now I see why you’re so fond of your brother, Nanase Tenn. He’s the kind of person you’d either protect with your life or spend all your time trying to break down.” He said with a smirk plastered on his lips. “I wonder what part he’ll come to play in all of this…” 

It had been at least four hours since Riku and Tamaki left by now, and for every minute that passed, Iori became more fidgety. He was relieved that Tamaki was there, so that Riku wasn’t on his own, but he would have still preferred to go along himself. Maybe he was being silly, he knew Riku could handle himself, but he just couldn’t help but worry. Now that he knew how he felt, he couldn’t live with himself if something happened to the other and he hadn’t been there to help. It was kind of scary how important Riku had become to Iori over such a short amount of time. He had become an essential part of Iori’s life, and he no longer wanted to live without him. He had never felt this kind of devotion to someone before, and it both unsettled him and made him happy. 

He recalled their conversation from the other day, and he was happy that he too meant a lot to Riku, even though it most likely wasn’t in the same way that the redhead was important to him. He told himself that he wasn’t sad, that the thought didn’t hurt him, but honestly, he wasn’t sure for how long he could keep doing that. He told himself he would be fine as long as they could stay together, even if it was only as friends. (Although they were technically husband and wife) He tried to silence the part of him that wanted something more. 

“Iori!” Someone suddenly called out. Iori turned around only to see that Mitsuki and Yamato were headed toward him. After Riku and Tamaki had left, the remaining five had decided to split up. Nagi and Sougo went one way while Yamato and Mitsuki went the other, Iori had stayed and checked out the area around the square where they were planning on meeting up later that day. “Nii-san, Nikaido-san, are you finished?” He asked as they reached him. 

“Yeah, we figured it was time to head back. They haven’t returned yet?” Yamato asked. Iori simply shook his head. “Well, if they’re not back after this long, it probably means that they were able to get in, right? Anyway, did you find anything, Iori?” Mitsuki asked cheerfully. Once again, Iori shook his head. “Nothing we didn’t already know, what about you two?” He asked. 

“Well,” Mitsuki started. “Most people, like you said, only knew as much as we did, or even less. However, one person said that they had heard that they had found something in the forests in the west. Didn’t know any specifics though, and neither were they willing to reveal their source, so I don’t know how trustworthy said information is.” He explained. 

Iori was about to say something to his brother, but he was interrupted by a loud rumbling noise. The two brothers swiftly turned around to look at the third person present, as the noise had seemingly come from him. “Ah, sorry about that, Onii-san is getting pretty hungry, think we could try and find something to eat?” Yamato said with a sly grin. Mitsuki sighed and gave Yamato an annoyed look. “Ugh fine, it’s around that time, isn’t it? Let’s go then.” He said. 

Iori reached out for the two. “Hang on, shouldn’t we wait for the others?” He asked. “It’ll be fine, there’s a place right over there so we’ll be able to see the entire square from inside. If someone comes, we can just go outside and get them. Besides, knowing you, you haven't had anything to eat since breakfast, come on!” Mitsuki said, after which he grabbed Iori’s arm and dragged the younger with them to get something to eat. 

They went inside the restaurant/bar, Iori wasn’t completely sure what it identified as, and went up to the counter to order something. It wasn’t the nicest, in fact, it was pretty run down and low quality, but it would have to do for now. The place was almost empty, save for a few people in the back, Iori hadn’t been paying attention, but he still managed to catch bits and pieces of their conversation, things like “Are you sure it’s them?” and “I overheard them talking earlier, I’m positive.” and “do they really think they can just come here and do whatever they want?” In hindsight, this should have concerned him, but he didn’t dwell on what he had heard, instead he just followed his brother and Yamato as they went to sit down at one of the tables by the windows. 

They ate quietly for a while, and from time to time they would look outside to see if anyone else had arrived yet. A few minutes later, Iori stood up. “I’m just going to the bathroom.” He told Mitsuki and Yamato, who nodded. The moment he stood up though, the people who were sat in the back started walking towards him, though Iori wasn’t really paying any attention to them. 

Then, the door flew open and Iori turned around to see who had entered. It was Riku, closely followed by Tamaki, Sougo and Nagi. Riku looked a bit stressed, almost afraid. “Riku?” Iori questioned. Then, it seemed as if Riku had noticed something as his gaze turned cold and he yelled. “Iori, watch out!” before he ran up to him, grabbed a chair and threw it down onto the man who had been coming up behind Iori. 

The entire room turned silent, all shocked by Riku’s sudden actions. “What the hell?” Mitsuki exclaimed as he quickly stood up. “H-he had a knife!” Riku said as he latched himself onto Iori and pointed to the man that was now groaning on the floor. “Did you just hit him with a chair?” Iori questioned, still in shock. “Yes, because he was going to stab you!” Riku yelled back at him. Iori just looked at Riku in disbelief, then at the man on the floor, then back at Riku. “With a chair?” He then asked again. 

Riku rolled his eyes. “That’s not important!” He said. It was at this point that the rest of the men in the back had walked up to them, all now directing their gazes at Riku. “You bitch! How dare you?! We’ll fuck you up!” One of them said as he approached the redhead. This was when Iori snapped out of his shock. He immediately placed himself in front of Riku protectively. “Don’t you dare touch her.” He said angrily. 

“Out of the way you Pandragoran scum!” Another one said as he too walked up to them. Riku managed to slip out from behind Iori and was now standing right in front of the men. “I don’t think you know who you’re talking to. I’m part of the Nanase family, my brother is close friends with Yaotome Gaku, if I were to report you to the royal family, I can’t even begin to imagine what they may do to you.” He said, standing proud, trying to show them that he wasn’t afraid, even though on the inside, he was terrified. 

“Tch.” One of them clicked his tongue as he pushed his way out of the building. “Come on, this little whore and her suiters aren’t worth the time.” He said harshly, and the rest followed his lead. The moment those words left his mouth however, Iori saw red. Riku noticed the shift in him and quickly held him back, looking in his eyes and trying to calm him down. “Stop, don’t make the situation worse.” He whispered to him. Soon, the men had all left, leaving Iori, Riku and the rest of their group alone in there. 

Iori let out a shaky breath and pulled himself away from Riku, he looked angrier than anyone had ever seen him before. “They had no right to talk to you like that!” He yelled as he pointed at Riku, who had wrapped his arms around himself. “It’s fine, I don’t care what they think. What’s important is that they’re gone now and that nobody got hurt.” He said. Iori was still angry so Riku walked up to him and drew him into a hug, which Iori immediately returned. “Thank you for standing up for me though, you were really cool.” He said, and immediately felt Iori relax against him. 

The moment they pulled away the others crowded around them. “That was so badass, Riku! You looked so cool” Nagi exclaimed as he patted the redhead on the head, smiling at him. Riku only gave him an awkward smile. “How did you know they were going to try and hurt us?” Yamato then questioned. 

“Something the king said kind of left me unsettled, so Tamaki and I decided to head back here as quickly as we could, then we ran into Sougo-san and Nagi-san on the way. Since you weren’t here, we asked around and someone told us you went in here. I saw the guy holding a knife and then my body just kind of acted on its own I suppose…” He said while rubbing the back of his head. 

“Anyway,” Riku then continued before anyone could interrupt him. “I can explain that more later. Me and Tamaki managed to find out where we need to go now, let’s go and find my brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finished! Did you like it? ^^ I hope you guys are excited for future chapters! As usual, I'll be back on Wednesday with the next one, so I'll se you then. Thank you for reading, and a bigger thank you to those who leaves kudos or comments! I love you guys! <3


	35. Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku is quickly heading back to the inn, wanting to leave as soon as possible, however, Iori thinks they should wait, since that would be safer. What will they do in the end?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a new update! I hope you're all looking forward to this! I don't really have anything to say, so without further ado, enjoy the new chapter! ^^  
> If you want to talk to me anywhere other than in the comments here, you can find me either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

After the incident at the restaurant/bar, the group had gone back to the inn where they had spent the previous night, which was also where they had kept almost all of their stuff for the day. Riku had been at the front, walking as fast as he could without setting off his asthma, while the others followed closely behind him, not really sure why he was in such a hurry. Riku hadn’t said anything since they left the square, not even when the others had addressed him in order to ask about what happened in the palace. In the end, they had instead turned to Tamaki for an explanation, which he gave them, although he missed out on quite a few things.

The moment they arrived, Riku went up to his shared bedroom with Iori and started packing up his things. Iori was now starting to get a bit worried. He walked over to Riku and grabbed the other boy’s shoulders, trying to get him to calm down. “Hey, hey, calm down. Why are you in such a rush? What’s going on?” He asked calmly, rubbing circles on Riku’s upper arms. 

Riku sighed and leaned into Iori’s touch for a moment, but then he snapped out of it and kept going through their stuff. “I’m packing, what does it look like I'm doing?” He simply answered. Iori sighed and once again grabbed Riku by the upper arms, this time however, he dragged him over to the bed and made him sit down. “Talk to me, okay? What’s got you in such a rush?” He asked. 

Riku gave a defeated sigh and made himself comfortable on the bed, right by Iori’s side while the other five stood around them. “You heard from Tamaki that the last time the king heard from the prince and the rest of the investigation unit, they were in Ariah. I think we should go now.” He said. Iori looked a bit taken aback at first. “Now? Wouldn’t it be better to wait until tomorrow morning? I get that you’re worried, but it will already be dark out in a few hours, we won’t reach a proper town in that time.” Iori argued. 

“I just… I need to see my brother. The king said that he couldn’t confirm that they would still be there, and if we wait for too long, they might leave! And then we’ll be right back to square one! The sooner we leave, the sooner we can reach Ariah, and the sooner we get there, the bigger chance we’ll have of finding them there.” Riku said. Iori could tell the other was getting restless and that he wouldn’t go down without a fight, but he really thought it would be better to wait until the next morning. 

“I get where you’re coming from, I really do. But I really think it would be safer if we waited.” Iori said while trying to keep calm. Clearly, Riku wouldn’t do the same. “No! I’m not waiting! I’m not going to risk losing them just because we wanted a good night’s sleep! My brother was all I had for so long, you know that!” He yelled, upset that Iori wasn’t agreeing to his plans. 

Iori had at first been taken aback by Riku’s sudden outburst, once the shock settled however, he felt slightly annoyed with the other, it was clearly better to wait, so why couldn’t he see that? However, by the time Riku had yelled out the part about his brother being all he had, something else took over Iori’s heart. He felt a slight pain, some part of his brain was telling him to see just how important Tenn clearly was to Riku, and for a moment, that was all he could see. For a moment, he wished that they wouldn’t find the other at all. Then he got back to his senses. What was this feeling? It was all new to him. Then he got it. He was jealous. He had never felt jealousy before, not like this at least, and it scared him again just how much he had come to care for Riku, and how much he wanted the other’s affection in return. He took a deep breath to collect himself. 

“I know that your brother is important to you, but you’re important to me! It would be safer for you if we went in the morning!” Iori told Riku, to which the redhead quickly replied. “If I’m so goddamn important to you, shouldn’t you just do what I want?!” Riku yelled harshly. Iori looked at him with a slightly hurt expression, wasn’t that what he had done all along? The room was silent, everyone else was unsure of how to deal with the situation as it was mainly Iori and Riku who were fighting, and they didn’t want to intervene. 

Riku soon realized just what he had said, and his anger was immediately forgotten. He stood up and looked down with a guilty expression on his face. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t…” He started, but he felt like he couldn’t finish that sentence. He felt like he couldn’t stay in that room any longer, so he ran out, making Iori stand up and reach out towards the door which Riku had run out of. 

Iori wanted to follow Riku, but he also wasn’t sure what to do or say once he found him. Instead he just sighed and buried his head in his hands. Mitsuki walked up to his younger brother and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, which was a bit awkward since he was shorter than Iori. “What Riku just said went a bit too far, but she herself knows that, so be sure to forgive her, okay? I get where you’re both coming from, but would it really be so bad to leave today? Is it really the best course of action to wait, or are you just being too cautious?” Mitsuki asked Iori, who just sighed in response. 

Yamato was the next to speak. “It would only be one night; couldn’t we bring some tents and camp outside like when we were up in the mountains? It wouldn’t be nearly as cold here, you know. Or we could just sleep in the carriages on the way.” He said. Iori weakly nodded, maybe he had been overreacting. Next, Tamaki walked up to them and hit Iori hard on the back. “It’s not good to make girls cry, Iorin. Even if you were only looking out for her. I don’t really think you were in the wrong, but neither was she. I think we could go with either option without it making such a big difference. And if Ricchan feels so strongly about leaving now, then maybe we should listen to her?” He suggested with a smile. 

Iori sighed again but agreed with the others. He thanked his brother before heading towards the door. “I’m going to go find Riku, maybe you guys can start preparing to leave?” He suggested, and the others nodded. 

Finding Riku had been much easier than Iori had anticipated. He was sat leaning against the wall right outside of the inn, head buried in the fabric of the dress that covered his slender legs. Iori sat down beside him. “Hey.” Was all he said. Riku moved a little bit, acknowledging that he was there, but still not looking up to face Iori. “I told the others to start packing up, we leave as soon as we can.” He said, and this did get Riku to look up at Iori, eyes big and slightly swollen from crying. 

“Why? Why are you doing what I want now? I… I’m so sorry, I really don’t know why I said what I said. You’ve always taken me into consideration, I know that you care, and I shouldn’t have used that as an argument. It was insensitive, and you didn’t deserve that. I didn’t actually mean it.” Riku said. Iori smiled at the other. “I know. You’re a simple person, and you’re not afraid to show what you feel, that’s one of the things I like about you, you know? Even though you can let your emotions cloud your judgement sometimes. But that’s fine, if you’ll let me, I can stay by your side to make sure that you don’t do anything stupid because of it. Didn’t we say that we would take care of each other?” Iori asked, trying to comfort the other. 

Hearing this only made Riku tear up more though, but not in the same way as before. He nodded and then scooted closer to Iori, burying his face in the other’s chest while wrapping his arms around his waist. Iori smiled and returned the hug, rubbing comforting circles on Riku’s back and running a hand through his hair, or at least through his wig. “I’m sorry, Iori. Thank you so much, for everything.” He mumbled, although it was a bit hard to hear since he had his face pressed into Iori’s shirt, thus making Iori chuckle. 

Once Riku had calmed down they met up with the others, who had almost finished everything that needed to be done before they left. Iori and Riku quickly packed up their own things and then they boarded one of the two carriages Sougo had managed to find them, Iori and Riku shared with Tamaki and Sougo, while Mitsuki, Nagi and Yamato were together in the second. Then they left, leaving Talin behind. It had been a short visit, but one they would not forget anytime soon. 

Iori was glad he had managed to make up with Riku so soon after their little fight, and seeing the other happy again really made Iori feel a lot better too. However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, that maybe they really should have waited until the next day after all. 

A few hours had passed since they left Talin, the sun had set, and Iori’s bad feeling from earlier had made itself apparent. When they left, it had been a really nice day, however, soon clouds had covered the sky and the wind had really picked up. After about two hours on the road, it had also started to rain. Right now, it was so windy and rainy that it could almost be called a storm, and the darkness outside really didn’t help the situation much as they could barely see where they were headed, they just had to try their best to stay on the road. 

Riku would curiously look over at Iori every ten seconds, looking as if he wanted to say something and yet never saying it. After a few minutes of this, Iori had enough, he turned to the other and gave him a questioning look. “Aren’t you going to say it?” Riku simply asked, making Iori even more confused. “Say what?” He asked. Riku looked down with a pout. “I told you so? It’s practically a storm outside, we should have waited after all…” He said. 

Iori sighed. “That’s not necessarily true. There’s no telling how long this weather would last, maybe we would have been stuck in Talin for days had we not left already, and then your brother really might have left Ariah.” He said, smiling down at Riku. “Hey!” Tamaki then exclaimed, making the other three in the carriage turn to him. “I think I see a river outside!” He said and pointed out the window. 

Sure enough, in front of them there were a wide river with a bridge leading across. “This is where we passed on the way to Talin, right? You said it was called Marys’ River?” Sougo asked, his question directed at Riku. “Yeah, that’s right. I thought we’d have made it further by now, but the weather must have slowed us down…” Riku said. Just as he said this, the carriage came to a sudden halt, startling them all. 

“What just happened?” Tamaki asked. They all looked a bit uncertain. “I’ll go take a look.” Iori said as he opened the door to the carriage and headed out into the storm. “Wait! Don’t go alone!” Riku exclaimed as he wrapped his coat tighter around his frame and followed Iori out. Soon, Sougo and Tamaki also joined them. 

“I thought maybe it was the horses, but that’s not it at all. Look, the carriage is stuck in the mud.” Iori said as he pointed to the two front wheels of the carriage. The horses pulling the carriage were already on the bridge, but right by the edge of the bridge there had been a lot of loose sand and dirt, which when wet turned into a deep mud puddle which, just as Iori said, their carriage had gotten stuck in. 

Behind them, the second carriage had stopped as well, Mitsuki Yamato and Nagi came out, wondering what had happened, why they had stopped. “What’s going on?!” Nagi yelled, they had to really scream in order to be heard over the sound of the storm around them. “Our carriage got stuck in the mud, can you help us get it out?!” Iori yelled back. They nodded and then they all started pushing, trying to get the carriage out of the mud so that they could once again be on their way. 

“Shit, it’s really stuck!” Yamato exclaimed. Iori turned to Riku. “You should head back inside, you’ll get cold in all this wind and rain!” He told him. Riku shook his head. “Everyone’s going to have to help if we want to get the carriage out!” He said. Iori sighed but didn’t argue further. He, along with everyone else started pushing again. 

It was at this moment that they all heard a loud sound, followed by a blinding light. It was thunder and lighting. It was pretty far away, so it wasn’t that much of an issue, except that it really scared the horses on the bridge who were now running around wildly. Riku was scared they would hurt themselves, so he ran up to them to calm them down. The first one calmed down almost as soon as Riku got there, but the other was still really antsy. 

The sound of thunder could be heard again, followed by a flash of light, further startling the already frightened animal who pushed and pulled on the reins, and when Riku tried to calm him down, the strong and big horse just pushed him out of the way, towards the edge of the bridge. The force hit him so hard and suddenly that he couldn’t keep his balance and was knocked over the railing. It was only a second before his body hit the raging water and his world turned black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, let me once again say that I'M SORRY FOR MAKING THEM SUFFER AND FOR THE CLIFFHANGERS!!! Secondly, I'm not really sorry ;) Anyway, I'll be back on Saturday with the next update, so you'll just have to wait until then to find out what happens next. That being said, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you to everyone who supports this fanfic, all your comments and kudos etc makes me super happy!! <3<3<3


	36. The Search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The storm is still raging, the carriage is still stuck, everything is chaotic and Riku just fell in the river, what will happen next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new update! I guess you've been waiting for this considering how the last chapter ended, and now the wait is over! With that said, enjoy this chapter! ^^ If you want to talk to me, you can find me either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Everything was chaotic, the storm was getting worse and worse, the horses were panicking, and they were still stuck. For a moment they were considering leaving it as is for now, and then try again once the storm had calmed down, but then, all of a sudden, they felt the carriage move slightly. It probably only moved two or three inches, but that was more than it had moved ever since it got stuck in the first place. With a few more strong pushes, Iori and the rest managed to get the carriage unstuck and up on the bridge.

Cheers erupted into the air as they had finally solved the problem. Yamato, Mitsuki and Sougo started discussing what to do now while Nagi and Tamaki tried to calm down the horses. It was at this time that Iori noticed that something was wrong, he couldn’t see Riku anywhere. He walked around the carriage but saw no one, he walked up to Tamaki, Nagi and the horses and there was still no sign of the redhead. “Hey, have you guys seen Riku anywhere?” He had to yell his question for the other two to hear him. 

Both Tamaki and Nagi shook their heads, and then Tamaki started yelling. “Maybe she went back into one of the carriages? Didn’t you ask her to do that earlier?” He asked. Iori nodded and went to check. He looked in the carriage that had been stuck first, as it was the one he had been the closest to, and it was also the one he and Riku had rode in before. It was empty save for some of their packing. 

Iori sighed and started walking over to the other carriage, he supposed it would have made more sense to go to this one as they were trying to get the other one unstuck and sitting in it would have just added more weight. He opened the door only to see that this one was just as empty as the other one. Okay, now he was actually getting really worried. Where could Riku possibly have gone? 

Iori looked around again, maybe there had been a building somewhere nearby and Riku had gone to get help. But no matter how hard he looked he found nothing as he couldn’t see anything in the dark, the rain was also obscuring his vision even more, making it near impossible to see more than a few meters ahead of him. 

He walked over to where his brother was stood with Yamato and Sougo. “Nii-san! Have you seen Riku? I can’t find her!” He exclaimed. Mitsuki turned and even in the dark he could make out the worried features on Iori’s face. “Well, she was helping with the carriage until the thunder started, then I don’t remember seeing her around anymore… Have you checked inside the carriages?” He asked. Iori nodded. “I just did that, they were both empty!” 

Mitsuki looked at the other two present. “Well, we’re not moving from here until we find her, okay? We’ll all help you look for her.” Mitsuki said and Yamato and Sougo quickly agreed. Iori nodded. “Right…” He just said. “NAGI! TAMAKI!” Mitsuki yelled, making the other two join them. “We can’t find Riku and we’re not leaving until we do so, everybody spread out and look. Though try not to stray too far, we don’t need anybody else going missing!” He said and then they all started looking. 

They went off in pairs, Sougo and Tamaki stayed to search the area around the carriages while also waiting to see if Riku came back, Nagi and Yamato went back the way they came from and looked there, lastly, Iori and Mitsuki crossed the bridge and looked around the area on the other side of the river. 

Approximately an hour had passed and there was still no sign of Riku. For every minute, Iori grew more and more worried, frightened and stressed. He did not like this situation one bit, and Mitsuki, of course, noticed right away. They had all gathered back at the carriages and were discussing what to do now. Iori wasn’t listening, all he could think about was Riku, all worst-case scenarios ran through his head and he couldn’t stop the feeling of dread that grew stronger for every passing second. What would he do if something bad had happened to the other? How would he ever be able to live with himself if something did? He felt panic set in, and suddenly it became harder to breath. 

He was pulled back to reality by Mitsuki, who had grabbed his shoulders and looked at him worriedly. “Are you back with us now?” He asked. Iori nodded, though he was still struggling for breath. “Iori, I need you to listen to me very carefully. The weather’s getting worse, we’re all tired, hurting, wet and cold. We’re not going to get any results tonight, so we’re going to sleep, and keep looking in the morning, at least then we won’t have to look while being in total darkness.” He explained. 

Iori shook his head violently. “No! If we stop now there’s no telling what will happen! It’s cold and it’s raining, and I’m not going to leave her out here alone!” He yelled back at his brother. Mitsuki only looked back at him sternly. “You will go back into the carriage, change clothes and get some rest until the sun is up. If I have to tie you up in order for you to do that, then so be it!” Mitsuki told him. “I promise you, as soon as the sun rises tomorrow and we have more light, we’ll keep looking. And we won’t stop until we find Riku. Okay?” He then continued. 

Iori still shook his head, he didn’t want to stop, he felt like he couldn’t stop. But no matter how much he struggled, he had no energy left, so it had been easy for Mitsuki and the others to drag him over to one of the carriages. After drying off and changing his clothes, he basically passed out on one of the seats out of exhaustion. 

Iori had been sleeping restlessly for a few hours, it wasn’t a good sleep, but at least he got some semblance of rest. When he woke up, he saw that the sun had just risen, so he quickly sat up, woke the others and before long they were all gathered outside. The weather had calmed down significantly over the night. There was no thunder, the wind was barely a light breeze and the rain didn’t pour down nearly as strong, even though it was still coming down. You could even see the sun peak through the clouds in some places, letting them know it was about to clear up. 

The group didn’t waste any time and started looking immediately, once again in the same pairs as the previous night. They had been searching for about twenty minutes when they heard Tamaki yell something. “Guys! Come here! I found something!” Everyone rushed over to where they had heard Tamaki’s voice, Iori being the first to arrive. 

When they were there, Tamaki held up a slightly torn brown coat that was dripping with water. It was the coat Riku had been wearing the night before. Iori grabbed it and then looked over at Tamaki with a frantic look. “Where did you find this? Was that all there was?” He asked. Tamaki looked off to the side. “There was only the coat and…” He trailed off. 

Iori was getting annoyed. “And what?” He asked sternly. Tamaki sighed. “The coat was stuck between two stones in the middle of the river.” He said and pointed to where he had found it. Iori’s eyes went wide and he ran over to the shore of the river, looking down both ways to see if he could find anything. Panic started taking him over as he realized what this could possibly mean. “You don’t think…” Sougo started. “That Riku fell in the river last night, do you?” He finished. 

They were all silent for a while, none of them were really sure what to do with this new piece of information. Iori didn’t know what he felt at that moment, he was scared, he was angry, he was sad, he just wanted to give up on everything, and yet there was still a part of him that told him not to give up, that told him to keep looking. He was overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do with all these emotions. He had never been one to flaunt his emotions, it even went to the point where people would assume he was a cold person simply because he didn’t always show what he was feeling. Because of this, when he was suddenly overcome with so many different emotions at the same time, he didn’t really know what to do with them all. In the end, he just sank down on his knees and screamed, he didn’t cry, he just screamed. 

Mitsuki slowly walked over to his brother and tried to draw him into a hug, but Iori only pushed him away. He didn’t want to close to anyone right now, or at least no one other than the one person who wasn’t there right now. “Iori, you need to collect yourself, I understand that this is hard, but we have to-” Mitsuki started before Iori cut him off. 

“No, you don’t understand! I promised Riku I would protect him! I swore! And yet I couldn’t do anything, heck, I didn’t even realize he had gone missing until it was too late! You can’t possibly understand what it’s like, because you’ve never been in love, how the hell would you know?! I’m not ready to give up on him, and nothing you say will change my mind!” Iori yelled without really thinking about what he said. Mitsuki looked shocked, and slightly hurt for a moment, but he just kept trying to calm Iori down. 

Soon, Mitsuki had succeeded. He was breathing hard and fast, but he had stopped yelling and he had finally accepted his brother’s embrace. Once Mitsuki felt that Iori had calmed down a bit he drew away. He looked over to the others who all wore similar questioning, yet sad and worried expressions. “Have you calmed down a bit?” Mitsuki asked slowly as he turned back to Iori. The younger nodded. 

“Good.” Mitsuki started. “First of all, nothing is confirmed until we find Riku, it’s still possible that she dropped her coat in the river yesterday, secondly,” Mitsuki paused after that, making Iori raise an eyebrow in question at his older brother. “Why did you refer to Riku as ‘he’ or ‘him’?” Mitsuki asked. 

Iori’s eyes widened. He had been so overwhelmed by everything that he hadn’t thought about what he was saying at all, and now that he was thinking back on it he realized that he had indeed used male pronouns when referring to Riku in his previous rant. He felt his heart sink, he had no idea how his brother and the others would react to this knowledge, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. But there was no way to take back what he had said, and even if he denied it or came up with some excuse, they would just get suspicious and probably figure it out on their own. 

“Uhm…” He said, looking at the others to try and tell what they were thinking. “Iori?” This time it was Nagi who spoke. Iori sighed. “Okay, this might sound a bit weird, but I figure it’s probably best to just tell you now.” He started. “It’s quite simple, actually. The reason I referred to Riku as ‘he’ and ‘him’ is because he is not a girl, but a boy.” Iori explained, putting some extra emphasis on the word ‘he’. 

The others all looked a bit taken aback. “Riku is a boy?” Mitsuki questioned. Iori sighed. “It’s a long story, but yes, he is a boy and he’s always been a boy. His parents made him pretend to be a girl for the sake of the marriage, but he never wanted that, it’s not his fault.” He explained. “Did you know all along?” Mitsuki then asked and Iori just shook his head. “Not from the start, no. But I found out pretty early on. Remember that night when he had his first asthma attack? The morning after I went to talk to him about it, but he misunderstood me and thought I was talking about some other secret, namely his gender, and that’s how I found out.” Iori said. 

Mitsuki nodded as he soaked up this new information. “Ricchan’s a boy?” Tamaki questioned. Sougo pulled him down to whisper in his ear, probably trying to explain the situation in a way that Tamaki would understand more easily. Mitsuki was about to ask Iori for more details when the black-haired boy stood up and interrupted him. “Look, I get that this is confusing, and I’ll explain it all, I promise. But right now, I really just want to find Riku, he’s still missing, remember? If he did actually fall in the river, the stream would have carried him south, so let’s follow the river south and see if we find anything.” He said. 

Mitsuki sighed but nodded anyway. They all agreed that this would probably be the best course of action and immediately gathered their things in order to continue their search downstream. 

The group didn’t get very far, after just about ten minutes of walking they were stopped by another group of people. Iori sighed, they didn’t have time to deal with this, he just wanted to continue following the river, while praying that they would find Riku soon, and that they would find him alive. This was what he thought, at least until he recognized one of the members of the other group, and apparently, he wasn’t the only one who recognized him. 

Mitsuki pointed at the familiar boy. “You’re Riku’s brother, you’re Nanase Tenn!” And indeed, they had stumbled upon Nanase Tenn, the very person they had been trying to find before, along with several other people whom Iori guessed were the members of the investigation unit. “Izumi Mitsuki?” Tenn questioned as he walked up to him, he then turned and faced Iori with a somewhat disgusted look. “And Izumi Iori…” He said, clearly not happy to see the two. Then he realized what this meant. “If you’re here, is Riku here too? Or is she back in Lawlee?” He asked. 

The next couple of minutes were like a battlefield, the more they explained the more furious Tenn became. Once he heard what had happened, he completely lost it, and he had quickly decided to place all the blame on Iori. They argued while trying to explain the situation while also trying to keep Tenn from murdering anyone. 

After lots of arguing, and lots of holding Tenn back, the two groups had decided to look for Riku together. Or, at least a few people from Tenn’s group decided to join. They still needed to report to the king, so part of the group had continued their journey to Talin, while Tenn and two more people joined Iori and the rest in their search. They were all introduced, and Iori learned that the other two were Yaotome Gaku and Tsunashi Ryuunosuke, the prince and a knight, who also happened to be the prince’s childhood friend. 

They traveled south along the river, looking for Riku. Everyone had their thoughts so occupied with finding said redhead that they had forgotten all about why they had been searching for Tenn and the others in the first place, they had forgotten all about a certain individual who was currently headed to Talin, they had forgotten all about Tsukumo Ryou.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I am so sorry for making our babies suffer! I just can't help myself... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite it not being the happiest, and then maybe next time (Probably but I won't promise anything) we'll see our favourite redhead again! ^^ I'll be back as usual on Wednesday. Thank you for reading, and an extra thank you to those who leaves kudos, comments or show support in any kind of way! <3


	37. On the Riverbank

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened to Riku after he fell in the river?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! It's Wednesday, so that means it's time for another update! I'm actually really excited for this chapter, as we'll leave Iori, Tenn and the others for a while and see how Riku's doing! Also, @QualiaNoEtrange on twitter made some fantastic fanart for this fic so be sure to check it out: https://twitter.com/QualiaNoEtrange/status/1122259796885934080  
> With that said, please enjoy this chapter! If you want to talk to me or something, you can either do that om Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

As Riku was accidentally pushed off the bridge his head just went empty, he didn’t have time to realize what was happening, he didn’t have time to feel afraid, and he certainly didn’t have time to scream. He felt his body hit the water, followed by the feeling of being pulled in multiple different directions at once, probably because the current was so strong due to the storm. He couldn’t breath and everything was dark, he started to panic and tried to get back up to the surface. He made it up but couldn’t see very far because of the water in his eyes and the dark of the night. However, he must have been moved pretty far down the river already, considering how fast he was moving right now.

He tried to reach the shore, but the current pulled and pushed his body in different directions, including down. He had probably swallowed at least a gallon of water by now, and he had barely managed to make a single sound. Soon, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, followed by his body starting to sink, and then the world turned black. 

Everything is dark. All around him, Riku sees nothing but a black void. Everything is silent. No matter how hard he listens, Riku can’t hear anything, not even he himself is capable of making any noise. He doesn’t remember what happened or how he got to where he is. It feels both scary and calm at the same time. 

But suddenly he feels something. Everything is still dark, everything is still silent, but he can feel something. It’s a sensation, as if he’s floating. He can tell that the world is slowly moving around him, even though he can’t see nor hear it. The next thing he feels is cold, everything around him is cold, and soon he also notices that it’s not only cold, but also wet. Then, he heard the first sound. It sounds like a breeze of wind, but it also sounds kind of like waves. The next thing he knows is that there’s now some semblance of solid ground underneath him, he’s no longer floating, at least not all of him. Then he feels warmth, it’s not much, but it feels like there’s something in front of him that’s emitting warmth. A fire? No, maybe the sun? He wouldn’t know, he still can’t see anything after all. 

He simply lay there for a few moments, he thinks he might be sleeping, but then he changes his mind. He can’t recall ever having felt like this when sleeping. But then again, he isn’t awake either. Then it suddenly hits him, he remembers everything that happened. The storm, the carriage that got stuck and the frightened horses. He fell in the river and passed out when he hit his head on a rock. Is he dead? No, he didn’t think so at least. But then again, he wouldn’t know, would he? 

Then, all of a sudden, he heard something new. It sounded like footsteps on gravel, like the shuffling of feet against the ground, like the sound of conversation in the distance. The sounds were so close, yet so far away, he couldn’t tell at all where they came from. Then, he felt an entirely different kind of warmth, the kind that comes from the presence of another living being. He once again felt himself lift from the ground, but this time he wasn’t floating, and the warmth from whoever or whatever was near him stayed. 

Then it all disappeared, first the noises, then the sensation of being held up off the ground, then the warmth from something alive. Riku lost consciousness again. 

For the first time in what felt like forever, Riku opened his eyes. His vison was a bit blurry and the bright light was kind of giving him a headache, though the light might not actually be the cause of his pounding head if he really thought about it, the light probably just made it worse. Riku groaned and tried to sit up, only to discover that he barely had any strength in his body at the moment. His entire body was sore, his head was pounding, the room was spinning, and he was freezing yet sweating, feeling like the warmth of the comforter was suffocating him yet comforting him at the same time. 

He blinked a couple of time and finally his vision stopped spinning and blurring. He didn’t even attempt to sit up this time as he was looking around the room. He was laying down in a soft bed with fresh white sheets. The room was built in some sort of light brown wooden material and had two big windows framed with white curtains along the walls. Across from him there was a closed door in the same wooden material as the walls, floor and roof. On the floor there was a big light green carpet, there was a desk with lots of books on it along one wall and a dresser along the opposite wall. There was a bookshelf beside the door and the entire room was richly decorated with green plants, very few had flowers, they were mostly just green leaves in different shapes or sizes. 

Riku had absolutely no idea where he was, although he still remembered what had happened. He had fallen into Marys’ River the other day when trying to calm the horses down, after which he had passed out. He must have drifted downstream and washed ashore somewhere, after which he assumed somebody had picked him up and taken him in. He had no idea who had helped him, but he felt extremely grateful. 

Riku took a deep breath and once again tried to sit up, this time he was successful, even though the room started spinning again and he felt a chill go down his spine as he did so, he could also feel every part of him ache. He was too cold, yet too warm. Had he caught a fever? If he fell in the river, that was highly likely. 

Riku looked out of the window and saw that the sun was high in the sky, meaning it was probably midday, or early afternoon. How long had he been passed out? He had originally assumed it hadn’t been very long, but he had no idea how these things work. Was it just yesterday he fell in the river? Or had it actually been a lot longer since then? For how long, and how far had he drifted down the river? 

At that moment he realized that he could hear something from the other side of the door. He heard voices, probably belonging to whoever had helped him. He listened for a while and was able to determine that he could hear three different voices. Deciding that he wanted answers more than anything right now, he decided to get up and simply ask them himself. However, the moment he stood up his vision turned black and he fell to the floor with a loud BANG. 

Riku somehow managed to collect himself just in time for the door to open, revealing three men whom he had never seen before. The shortest of them, a young-looking man with pink eyes, black hair with white tips and tiny fangs sticking out of his mouth. “Oh my god, are you okay?” He asked kindly as he helped Riku back onto the bed. Riku wasn’t sure if he trusted this man yet, but he really wasn’t in any situation to refuse his help. 

Once he was seated again, the two other men walked up to him and stood by the side of the bed. Both were quite tall with long hair, one’s was black and the other’s gray. The black-haired man had green eyes and a kind looking smile, the gray-haired man had light blue, almost gray eyes and a beauty mark underneath one of his eyes. 

“Uhm…” Riku started. “I’m sorry, but where am I? Who are you?” He asked, looking at the others for answers. The shorter man, the one who had helped him, sat down on the bed and put the back of his hand to Riku’s forehead, presumably checking his temperature. “Well, yesterday we found you passed out on the riverbank, I’m not sure what happened or how you ended up there, but you hit your head, there are some cuts and bruises and you have a fever. Try not to move around too much, okay?” He said and ended with a wink in Riku’s direction. Riku was still really confused as to what was going on. 

The gray-haired man sighed and placed a hand on the shorter man’s shoulder. “While I’m sure he appreciates you telling him about his health, that’s not what he asked for.” He lectured. The shorter man pouted. Then the black-haired man knelt down, took a hold of Riku’s hand and smiled at him. “I’m sorry, you must be scared and confused. My name is Ogami Banri, this,” He pointed to the gray-haired man. “is Yuki, and this,” Now he pointed to the shorter man. “is Momo.” Banri ended with another gentle smile in Riku’s direction. 

Riku nodded and gave the three a small smile in return. Banri started talking again. “We’re musicians, and this is our cabin, it’s located about a mile north-east of the village Tulsey.” So he had almost drifted all the way to Lake Blair? That was a lot farther than Riku had anticipated. Even though he knew nothing about these three, Banri, Yuki and Momo, Riku felt compelled to trust them. “My name is Izumi Riku, although it used to be Nanase Riku. I sort of fell into the river the night of the big storm, can you tell me how long ago that was?” He asked them. 

“The storm was two days ago, right?” Yuki asked as he looked first at Banri, then at Momo. Momo nodded enthusiastically. “Right, right! Then you haven’t been out of it for that long, isn’t that great?” He exclaimed and directed his bright smile to Riku, who just smiled back. Banri then cleared his throat. “You mentioned your name used to be Nanase? As in the Nanase family? The one that owns that big business and is quite close with the royal family?” He asked. Riku nodded. 

“Well that’s great, then maybe we could contact your parents and they could come pick you up?” Banri suggested. Riku started panicking slightly when they mentioned his parents. “No!” He practically begged. They all looked at him weirdly after his sudden raise on volume. “I mean, I’d prefer it if you could try and contact someone else instead, there’s no need to get my parents. If possible, could you try and find a man named Izumi Iori? If that’s not possible, then maybe you could reach my brother? Nanase Tenn.” He suggested. 

The three men looked at each other and simply assured Riku that they would do their best, after which they gave him some medicine and told him to rest up while they prepared something to eat. Riku couldn’t help but think again that he was really lucky since he had been found by such nice people. 

Time passed, Momo had brought Riku some porridge, which he had then thrown up about ten minutes later. They instead tried feeding him some soup which he somehow managed to keep down, even though he felt a bit queasy for a while. His fever kept going up and down, and he was constantly switching between being too warm or too cold. The headache had gotten a lot better, but it was still there. 

It was now quite late, the sun had set a few hours prior and Riku was pretty sure that both Momo, Yuki and Banri had all gone to sleep already. He knew that he should do the same, but somehow, he just couldn’t fall asleep. For a while he thought that it was because of the fever, but a fever had never really caused insomnia for him personally before, in fact, when he was sick, he tended to get sleepier than he usually was. He thought it might be his head, but the medicine Momo had given him had really helped and he barely felt it anymore. 

He shifted around in the bed, trying to make himself comfortable. Then, all of a sudden, he realized that he felt extremely cold. However, it wasn’t the kind of cold you could get rid of by dressing warmly or wrapping yourself in blankets. It was the kind of cold that came from being alone. Riku realized that the bed suddenly felt way too empty, that he missed the dip in the bed beside him, he missed the warmth of another person sleeping by his side. 

Ever since the marriage, he had been made to share a bed with Iori. At first it had been forced, he was extremely uncomfortable, to the point where he would sometimes not sleep at all during the night, instead he would nap during the day, when he could be alone. But as their relationship progressed, they also grew accustomed to sharing a bed, so much so that they even ordered rooms with only one double bed if they had the choice. It wasn’t just something he had learnt to accept, it wasn’t even something he had grown completely comfortable with, it was something he had come to require. 

Sleeping without Iori beside him turned out to be extremely difficult, it just felt wrong in someway or another. Riku felt restless, cold and so, so alone. Iori had made him feel safe, he had made him feel wanted, comfortable and warm, and more than anything, he had made him feel happy. 

Riku was overcome with a feeling of longing, he wanted Iori to be there with him, he wanted Iori to take care of him now that he wasn’t feeling well, he wanted Iori to lull him to sleep, he wanted Iori to hold him and to make him feel safe and loved. When had Iori become such an essential part of his life? When had it changed from Riku wanting to be with Iori to Riku needing to be with Iori? 

Riku sighed as he shifted around in the bed again. He had just realized two things, number one, he would not be able to sleep much that night, and number two, he had fallen hopelessly in love with Izumi Iori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, Riku's okay (kinda), and he finally realized the truth! Thank you so much for reading, and I'll be back, as usual, on Saturday with the next update! Also, thank you to everyone who leaves kudos, comments or supports me in any way! <3


	38. Old Acquaintances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Momo takes care of Riku, Iori and Tenn find that they have at least one thing in common, and Yamato bumps into an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Saturday, so like I said, I'm back with the new chapter! I don't really have anything to say other than that I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! If you wanna find me anywhere else, you can do so either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

After a difficult night, Riku did manage to fall asleep, but by the time he did, the rays of the sun could already be seen along the horizon. He didn’t know for how long he had slept, but he guessed it was only about one or two hours. He was woken by Momo, who had brought him some breakfast, a glass of water and a washcloth. “Good morning, did you sleep well?” He asked cheerfully as he approached the bed.

Riku pushed himself up so that he was now in a sitting position. He gave Momo a bittersweet smile before yawning. “Not really… I just had a hard time falling asleep last night.” He said. Momo looked at him in sympathy as he leaned forward to check his temperature. “Well, despite the lack of sleep it seems your fever has gone down, it’s still there, but you’re not as warm as you were yesterday. How are you feeling otherwise?” He asked as he picked up the washcloth and started wiping off the sweat along Riku’s arms and down his back. 

“I’m really tired, but I do feel a bit better. I’m not as sore, and I don’t feel dizzy, nor nauseous anymore. My head still hurts, but not as bad as it did yesterday.” Riku explained. Momo smiled at him as he finished cleaning him, he then handed Riku a clean shirt and then placed the breakfast on his lap. “Eat as much as you can, it’s fine if you don’t finish it, but you need to start getting your energy back.” He said kindly. 

Riku nodded and started eating. After a while he noticed that Momo apparently wasn’t leaving. “You know, I don’t think I really thanked you properly before, so thank you for all you’ve done. I’m really grateful.” He said while he ate. Momo gave him a light pat on the head in response. “Well, we couldn’t just leave you down by the river, could we? We’re just glad to be able to help.” He said and Riku smiled gently up at him. 

Then, Momo’s expression turned more serious. “Is it okay if I ask you a few questions? You absolutely don’t have to feel pressured to answer them! I had meant to ask you yesterday, however, you seemed a bit out of it, so we, me, Yuki and Ban-san that is, decided it would be better to wait for a while.” Riku swallowed what he had just put in his mouth and nodded as a response before Momo started the questioning. “You mentioned that you were the son of the Nanase family, and you are undoubtedly a man, and yet, when we found you, you were wearing women’s clothes. You also introduced yourself as Izumi Riku, not Nanase, why is that?” Momo asked. 

Riku looked down at his lap, his fingers playing with the hem of the shirt he was wearing. “Well,” He started. “It’s kind of a long story.” He then said. “Well, it’s not like I’m in a rush, but like I said, you don’t need to force yourself to talk about it if you’d rather not.” Momo responded calmly. Riku nodded and continued. 

“It's fine. The short story would be that, after the queen was killed, my parents lost all contact with their business partners in Pandragora, and so they desperately started looking for new ones. In the end, the only thing they could do was have me pretend to be a girl in order to marry the son of a Pandragoran noble family so that we could establish a connection.” He explained. 

Momo looked at Riku with nothing but sympathy. “That doesn’t sound very nice… I’m sorry you had to go through that. You mentioned an Izumi Iori yesterday, is he your… husband?” Momo asked, trailing off towards the end. Riku just smiled at him. “Uh, yeah. But you really don’t have to feel sorry for my sake, it’s actually not that bad, in fact, it’s not bad at all. In the beginning, I was really scared and uncomfortable and angry, but Iori is just so kind and smart and caring and just… really good. And despite having figured out the truth, he still accepted me, in fact, he started treating me even better after he found out.” Riku explained with a smile on his face. 

Listening to this made Momo feel warm all over. “Well, he sounds wonderful.” He said and Riku silently agreed with him. Momo then sighed and stood up, stretching his arms high above his head. “Well, are you finished with that?” He asked as he pointed to the nearly empty breakfast tray on Riku’s lap. 

“Ah, yes! Thank you, it was delicious!” Riku told Momo while blushing slightly. Momo chuckled and picked up the tray. “Well, you rest up now, you’re still far from recovered and we haven’t been able to get ahold of anyone of your companions yet. Try and get some more sleep and I’ve put some medicine on the bedside table that you may take if you feel like you need it.” He said. 

Riku nodded and smiled brightly at him. “I got it, thanks!” He said. Momo started heading for the door but stopped in his tracks. “And by the way, me and Yuki will be heading into Tulsey in a few hours, but Ban-san will be staying here all day, so in case you need anything you can just call for him.” Momo explained before leaving Riku alone in the room. He was still feeling really tired, since he had barely slept at all that night, and Momo had told him to rest. Sleep came much easier that morning, and just a few minutes after having been left alone he had drifted off to sleep, dreaming dreams of a certain raven-haired individual. 

Iori and Tenn’s company had been searching for Riku nonstop all day yesterday without any luck. The two might not get along that well, but they were both stubbornly searching for the redhead, neither wanting to stop for even a second. Their care and love for Riku was something they apparently had in common. At four in the morning the group had finally made it to Tulsey, where they had chosen to rest at an inn before continuing their search the next day, much to Iori and Tenn’s dismay. It had been thanks to Mitsuki and Ryuunosuke that they got those two to actually get some rest that night. 

They must all have been more tired than they were letting on, because they all slept until past noon the next day. The first ones up were Sougo and, surprisingly, Yamato. The inn had stopped serving breakfast by the time they got down and they didn’t even bother to serve lunch, and so the two who were awake had decided that they would go out and buy something for them all to eat. 

Yamato and Sougo swiftly left the inn and started wandering the streets of Tulsey. They had arrived so late last night that they never really got a chance to take in the small town, but it seemed like a peaceful and prospering little village. It wasn’t very big, but it wasn’t precisely small either. It was actually a rather beautiful place. 

A few minutes later, the two reached the market which was full of people. They walked up to a stand and bought some bread, then they bought some nice meat and a few fruits. They were just about to head back to the inn when Yamato heard someone call out to him. “Yamato-kun? Is that you?” Both Yamato and Sougo spun around at the sound of someone calling out to them. The moment Yamato saw who it was however, he frowned. 

“My, my, fancy meeting you here… Yuki-san.” Yamato greeted the man in front of them. Yuki, closely followed by Momo walked up to the two. “It’s been so long, and yet you don’t seem that happy to see me?” Yuki asked. Yamato just shrugged. “No offense, but I’d rather not think back on those times. Anyway, what brings you here? I haven’t seen you on any events in Myronia for five or six years. What happened to Re:vale, the world-famous traveling musicians?” 

Sougo flushed at the mention of Re:vale. “R-Re:vale? These people are part of Re:vale?!” He asked in a panic, but Yamato just shrugged as if it wasn’t important. This time Momo answered. “Well, we decide to retire! Sort of. We’re still musicians, just not traveling as much. We bought ourselves a small cabin down by the river about a mile outside of town. Since then we haven’t performed outside of Myronia, it’s been over five years now, and even if we perform in this country, it’s mostly here in Tulsey or in Talin.” He explained. 

“But enough about us,” Yuki started. “What brings you here? I know for a fact that you’re not here for work, your father’s business has nothing here to do, at least not as of right now. And Tulsey isn’t exactly famous for being very attractive to tourists, part of the reason why we choose this little town to retire to. So, that raises the question, what are you, Nikaido Yamato-kun, doing in a small Myronian town like this?” Yuki asked, sounding a bit suspicious. 

Yamato sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “Well, there was a bit of a situation… We’re kind of looking for someone, or at least traces of someone. We honestly don’t even know if they’re still alive, chances are very high they aren’t. You haven’t seen a young woman floating in the river by any chance, have you?” He asked, not really expecting a serious answer. However, once he mentioned a young woman and the river, Momo and Yuki started exchanging odd glances. 

“Well, no. But we did pick up a young boy who lay passed out on the riverbank yesterday morning.” Yuki answered. Yamato and Sougo looked first at each other, and then back to Momo and Yuki. “What?” They then asked in unison. 

When Iori woke up that day the sun was already high in the sky, he got a bit worried that he had slept too long and immediately started getting ready. He made his way downstairs and saw that his brother along with Nagi, Tenn and Gaku were gathered around a table in the small common area of the inn. 

Tenn was the first to spot him. “Took you long enough. Guess you need the beauty sleep.” He said, making Iori frown. Gaku then hit Tenn on the head and glared at him. “Behave.” Was all he said, making Tenn roll his eyes. Iori sat down on a chair to the let of his brother. “Where are the others?” He then asked. 

“Ryuu went to the bathroom.” Gaku started, followed by Mitsuki. “Tamaki is still sleeping, and it seems like Yamato-san and Sougo went out to buy something for all of us to eat since we missed breakfast. We’re waiting for them to come back before we keep searching.” He explained. Iori nodded. “Shouldn’t we wake up Yotsuba-san then?” He asked. “We’ll wake him if he isn’t up by the time Yamato and Sougo returns!” Nagi exclaimed energetically. 

Just then the door opened and an out of breath Sougo, followed by an even more out of breath Yamato came in. Iori and the others looked at them quizzically, and they became even more confused when two other men appeared behind them, Tenn and Gaku recognized them, but the others did not. At this moment, Ryuunosuke had also decided to return. “Oh my, why are Yamato-kun and Sougo-kun so out of breath? And is that Momo-san and Yuki-san? It’s been so long!” He said cheerfully. 

Ryuunosuke was interrupted after that by Yamato. “Sorry to spoil your reunion, Tsunashi-san, but we know where Riku is.” He said. As soon as the redhead was mentioned, both Iori and Tenn quickly stood up and rushed over to them. “Where? Is he okay?” They asked in unison. “He’s fine, well, he’s not dead at least. We found him passed out on the riverbank yesterday and took him up to our cabin. He’s got some cuts and bruises, and I’m pretty sure he hit his head a bit, also he’s got a bit of a fever. He woke up yesterday afternoon.” Momo explained. 

The moment Yuki and Momo had confirmed that Riku was still alive and that he would be okay, Iori felt so relieved. He wanted to just collapse onto the floor and cry, but he also wanted to run to wherever Riku was right now. He wanted to see him, to hold him in his arms and to take care of him until he was all better. “Well,” Tenn spoke. “What are we waiting for? Let's go!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! Sorry for dragging this out, but *spolier alert* I promise they'll reunite in the next chapter! Speaking of the next chapter, as usual I will be uploading that on Wednesday, however, I work all that day so it might be up a bit later on Wednesday evening, we'll see. ^^ Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in the next! Thank you so much for leaving kudos and comments, and for showing your support! <3<3


	39. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku and Iori (and the rest) finally reunite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally back with the chapter that I think all of you have been waiting for! I'm sorry for hurting our boys so much, I hope this chapter will make up for it! Enjoy!  
> If you wanna talk to me, or have any questions, or anything really, you can find and contact me either on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Riku was bored. Even though he had fallen asleep again after Momo left that morning, he had woken up again just about an hour later. He had heard Momo and Yuki leave the house not long after, and then Banri had entered his room with some lunch for him. They had talked for a while, but once Riku had finished eating the older man left him since he supposedly had some work to do around the house. Ever since he had been left alone again, Riku had not been able to come up with anything to do.

He sighed and turned his head so that he was now looking out the window. It seemed to be a very nice day outside, the sun was shining and as far as Riku could see there was not a single cloud in the sky. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get a bit of fresh air? He knew he should technically stay in bed, Momo, Yuki and Banri had all told him to do just that for the day after all, but would it really hurt if he just went outside, took a few deep breaths of fresh air and then went right back to bed? Maybe then he’d feel less restless. 

Riku took a deep breath and pushed himself up into a sitting position, as long as he just went out and then came right back, it would surely be completely fine, maybe Banri wouldn't even find out. He told himself this as he swung his legs off the side of the bed and stood up carefully, since the last time he had attempted the same thing he had gotten dizzy and fallen over. He let out a sigh of relief as he did not feel any dizziness upon standing up, he didn’t feel worse at all actually. At least not until he realized how cold he was, probably from emerging out of the warm blankets he had all but lived under during the last day. 

Figuring that it would probably be a bad idea if he got too cold, he grabbed the comforter off the bed and wrapped it around himself. This would have to do since he couldn’t find a jacket or something similar to wear. The moment he had wrapped himself up Riku felt a lot more comfortable and he stopped shivering. He slowly walked towards the door, and opened it as quietly as possible. It wasn’t that he was scared that Banri would notice him, he figured he could probably persuade him to allow Riku some fresh air if he was discovered, but he still felt like he was doing something bad, like he was breaking the rules. 

Once again, Riku sighed in relief when he couldn’t see Banri anywhere, meaning he was most likely either in his own bedroom, our doing something somewhere outside. Riku stopped for a moment to observe the small cabin, since this was the first time he even left the room in which he had spent the last day. It was very homely, with lots of color yet very simple details. Just like in the room he'd been in, there were plants on almost all the tables as well as in the windowsills, some were even placed on the floor. He had learned earlier that this was because of Yuki, apparently he had an interest in gardening, which still confused Riku as Yuki seemed to be doing more gardening inside the house rather than outside, in the actual garden. Although, all the potted plants did make the small home feel very cozy. 

Riku smiled to himself as he finished inspecting the home of the people who had helped him, and then he walked over to what he assumed was the door leading outside. He opened it and stepped out onto the porch, letting the wind and the sun hit his face, he took a deep breath and enjoyed how it felt. He had been right in that it had been really nice out. 

Riku was just stood on the porch, enjoying the sun and the wind, when he heard footsteps approaching. “Riku-kun? What are you doing out of bed?” He heard Banri ask worriedly. Riku turned to him and gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry! I just really wanted some fresh air, I’ll go back to bed in a minute, I promise.” Riku responded. Banri nodded and patted the younger boy’s shoulder. “Well, as long as you don’t get cold or overexert yourself, I suppose it’s fine. You can stay out here for a few minutes, but the moment you get cold, or if you start feeling worse in any way, you go right back to bed, understand?” 

Riku nodded vigorously and Banri gave him a smile. "I'm glad to see that you're feeling well enough to be out of bed though." Banri said kindly, and then they both turned to look out over the horizon, only to see a number of silhouettes coming their way. Riku raised an eyebrow at Banri in question, who in turn shrugged. “I would say that that would be Yuki and Momo-kun coming back, but it’s clearly more then two people.” He said, sounding a bit confused. Riku squinted to see clearer, and then his eyes were blown wide in shock as he noticed just who was coming their way. 

Riku started walking around Banri so that he could reach the stairs leading off the tiny porch they were stood on, accidentally dropping the blanket that had been wrapped around his shoulders on the ground. “Riku-kun?” Banri questioned but received no reply. It was at this moment that the ones approaching seemed to notice Riku as well, as one of the people in the very front called out for him. “Riku!” It had undoubtedly been Iori’s voice and Riku wanted to cry, he had never been so happy to see anyone before in his life. 

The moment Iori had seen Riku in the distance he had switched from a brisk walk to a full-on sprint, he didn’t want to be separated from the other any longer than he needed to. Seeing Iori speed up made Riku want to run to him too, even though he felt like he didn’t have the energy to do that right now. Still, with tears streaming down his cheeks he started moving his feet, speeding up with every step he took until he, too, was running to meet the other. 

It didn’t take long until they reached each other, with Riku practically colliding with Iori’s chest, throwing his arms around his neck and just held him as close as he could. Iori, of course, returned the embrace, wrapping his own arms around Riku’s waist as soon as he could, while also burying his face in his neck, inhaling his scent. For about a minute they both just stood there, holding each other as close as they possibly could. The others had all caught up to them by now, Mitsuki with a knowing smirk on his face and Tenn with a frown. He may be happy that they had finally found Riku and that he seemed to be okay, but he was not overly fond of the way he had so passionately run straight into Iori’s arms. 

Iori was the first to pull away, even though it pained him to do so, in order to look at Riku’s face, which proved to be rather difficult since the other had it buried in Iori’s shirt. Iori smiled softly at him before he moved his arms from around Riku’s waist in order to instead cup his face to get him to look at him. The moment Riku felt Iori’s touch on both his cheeks he looked up to meet the other’s eyes, and at that moment, everything was perfect, it felt as if everything was back to how it should be. That is, until he noticed his vision blurring as he collapsed against Iori’s chest. 

“Wow, hey, are you okay?” Iori asked, his voice laced with worry as he saw Riku’s eyes close and felt his body go limp in his hold. “Riku?” He called out again as he hoisted him up so that he could hold him up more easily. Tenn also rushed over upon seeing his brother collapse like that. “Poor thing must have been exhausted, barely got any sleep as far as I know…” It was Momo who had said this, and upon taking a closer look, both Iori and Tenn could see that Riku had indeed fallen asleep right then and there. 

Iori then proceeded to lift Riku up in his arms, just like he had the night of the gala. “Is there a bed or something where I can put him down?” He asked Momo, who smiled and nodded. “Follow me.” He said as he led them all inside and instructed Iori to lay Riku back down on the same bed that he had used earlier. The moment he had made sure the other was tucked in and looked comfortable he asked for a chair, which he placed by the side of the bed and then sat down on, taking on of Riku’s hands in his own as he watched over him. 

The others then promptly left the room, choosing to give the two some privacy. Although, some were more reluctant to leave than others. 

The first thing Riku noticed upon waking up was a certain warmth that took him over, spreading throughout his entire body from one of his hands. The second thing he noticed first after he had opened his eyes, and it was that the sun was setting. The third thing he noticed was that he was not alone, he turned his head around and was met with the soft gaze that he had come to know so well. Riku smiled at Iori and Iori smiled back. 

“Hello.” Iori said quietly. Riku giggled. “Hi.” He said, his voice a bit hoarse from just waking up. Riku tried sitting up but noticed that something held his hand down, he looked and saw Iori’s hand, resting in his own. Both boys simultaneously started blushing as they realized the situation. Iori let go of Riku’s hand, much to the other’s dismay, and instead helped him sit up properly in the bed. Riku suddenly felt colder, which was ridiculous, he shouldn’t feel so much colder just from Iori letting go of his hand. Still, he missed the warmth, and so he did something that took more courage than it should have. He reached out and took a hold of the same hand that had held his own earlier. 

“How are you feeling?” Iori asked as he looked at Riku while stroking the back of his hand with his thumb. “I’ve been better, but it’s not too bad. It was worse yesterday.” Riku said and Iori nodded. “Do you want me to get you anything?” He asked. “You could hand me that glass of water on the table.” Riku replied. Iori immediately reached for the glass that was stood on the bedside table with his free hand, and then handing it to Riku who proceeded to quickly down the entire glass. 

“I’m so sorry.” Iori said quietly, so much so that Riku for a moment wasn’t sure whether he had actually heard it or not. “What? Why are you saying that?” He asked, he didn’t think Iori had anything to be sorry for. “I told you I would protect you, and yet I didn’t even notice when you went missing…” Iori said, looking away in guilt. Riku squeezed his hand tightly before speaking. “You can’t blame yourself for that! I was reckless that night, and with everything that was going on, it’s not weird that you didn’t notice. Iori listen to me, you have nothing to apologize for.” 

“But I-” Iori started but he was promptly interrupted by Riku. “No buts! I don’t care what you say, it wasn’t your fault! I’m not angry with you, I don’t blame you, I’m just glad you came to look for me, that you didn’t give up then and there.” Riku said as tears once again started running down his cheeks. Iori was lost for words, but the moment Riku started crying he wasted no time in wiping away the tears. “I would never give up on you. I was so scared that you were gone, I didn’t know what to do, I just needed you to be okay.” He said. 

Riku’s heart sped up at Iori’s words, god how he loved this boy, how had he missed something like that? “Why would you go so far?” He asked silently. “Because I…” Iori started but trailed off. What was he going to say? He wanted nothing more than to tell Riku the truth, but he was scared, he didn’t want to lose Riku again, although this time it could be in a different way. He didn’t know what else to say though, and he didn’t want to lie to Riku. He was scared of rejection, but he was even more scared of losing the other without having told him the truth. 

Iori took a deep breath and looked up, meeting Riku’s questioning gaze with his own determined one. He used his free hand to cup Riku’s face while he gripped Riku’s hand tighter with the other one. His heart was beating fast, he wouldn’t be surprised if Riku could hear it, and he was almost certain he was blushing. And then he said it. 

“Because I love you.” 

Riku’s mouth dropped open, that was certainly not the answer he had been expecting, even if he couldn’t deny that a part of him had hoped for it. He was about to say something back, but Iori beat him to it. “And I don’t mean that in the way a friend would love a friend! I love you romantically, I want to hold your hand, I want to kiss you, I want to be your strength because you are my strength, I want keep you safe, I want to hold you and never let go, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, that is the last thing I want for you, and I know it hasn’t been that long, but despite that I’ve fallen in love with you, fallen in love with everything that you are. I hope you will let me stay by your side even knowing this, I just couldn’t risk losing you again before I told you the truth.” Iori said. 

Once he felt finished, Iori took a few deep breaths to try and calm down his racing heart, then he looked up to see Riku’s reaction only to find the other crying his eyes out. Riku felt overwhelmed, how long had Iori felt like this? Should he have noticed it? Why hadn’t Riku noticed sooner? He didn’t know what to do with all his emotions, and so he started crying. He could see Iori worrying the moment he noticed, and so he let go of Iori’s hand in order to reach out and pull the other into an embrace. 

Iori wasn’t exactly sure what to do, did the hug mean that Riku reciprocated his feelings? Or was it out of sympathy? He had never done this before, he had absolutely no idea how these things were supposed to go. He carefully wrapped his own arms around Riku, lightly returning the embrace. After a short while of silence, Iori couldn’t take it anymore, while he didn’t want to push Riku, he did want an answer. “Riku?” He called out. 

Upon hearing his own name being called out, Riku immediately pulled back. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to leave you hanging without an answer! You kind of overwhelmed me a bit is all! Okay, here I go.” Riku said as he let go of Iori. He placed his own hand on his chest and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Iori staying quiet while he did this. Something about the gesture was extremely endearing, in fact, it was outright adorable. Then, Riku looked up at Iori with a determined look in his eyes. “I love you too. I don’t really know how this works either, or what I’m supposed to say or do, but I’m really happy! You make me really happy! All those things you said, I feel exactly the same way.” 

This time it was Iori’s turn to cry, and Riku’s turn to wipe away the tears. They both soon calmed down, no more tears, and just looked at each other with gentle smiles. Riku then got an idea, he reached out and grabbed ahold of both of Iori’s hands, making the other blush slightly. “Let’s make a new vow.” Riku said seriously. Iori was taken aback by this, he was also a bit confused. “What do you mean?” He asked. Riku just smiled at him. “The last time we took our vows we barely knew each other, I want to redo it.” He said. Iori was shocked but he nodded anyway. 

Riku started. “Izumi Iori, I love you and I promise to stay by your side, to care for you, to protect you, to strengthen you and to do all of this unconditionally. I will give you my all, my heart, body and soul, if you will give your all to me in return. All of this, until death do us part, or however it goes, I can’t remember.” 

Iori couldn’t believe his ears, he wanted to cry again, but no tears were made. Instead he smiled brightly and gripped Riku’s hands tighter. “Nanase Riku, or Izumi Riku I guess, I love you too, more than anything, and I promise that I too will stay by your side, care for you, protect you, be your strength. I will forever love you unconditionally. Of course I will give you my all, and I will be sure to treasure you in every way that you’ll let me. And yes, it is until death do us part, although you did forget some other parts.” He responded. 

Riku laughed and so did Iori. They had truly found themselves in each other, and they couldn’t be happier. Their eyes met and they smiled, then Iori realized something. “If I’m not mistaken, aren’t these kinds of vows supposed to be sealed with a kiss?” He asked smugly, receiving a sly smile in return from Riku, who simultaneously let go of Iori’s hands in order to wrap his arms around his neck and pull him closer. “Then you may now kiss your bride.” He said, and Iori chuckled before he wrapped one arm around Riku’s waist and used the other to tilt his chin up. 

Iori leaned down and slowly, softly placed his own lips on Riku’s. Riku let out a gasp the moment their lips made contact, and immediately kissed Iori back. It wasn’t their first kiss, but it was the first kiss that truly meant something. Their lips moved in sync, gently against each other while the two boys pulled each other even closer. It was slow and innocent, yet oh so passionate, both putting all of their feelings into the kiss. In that moment, they were the only thing that mattered. They loved each other and they both knew it, nothing else was important, because that moment was theirs, and theirs alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is it bad if you squeel, cry, laugh and smile at your own writing? Cuz I kinda did... Anyway, I hope you liked that, and I'll be back on Saturday with the continuation! Thank you so much for reading and supporting this fanfic, it really means the world to me! <3<3


	40. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori explains to Riku what happened while they were sepparated, Riku explains some things regarding him and Iori to Tenn, and they realize that there was one reather important revelation they forgot about...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with the next chapter! Also, I'm so happy that you guys really seemed to be happy with the confession in the last chapter! I myself thought it was pretty fitting to this story, so I'm glad that you also seemed to enjoy the way it played out! This chapter picks up where the last one ended, so enjoy! Also, @redwavyorca on Twitter made some gorgeous drawings, so be sure to check them out because they really look amazing!!! https://twitter.com/redwavyorca/status/1126723152304689152  
> Also, if have any questions or just wanna talk, you can find me either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

“Okay, look, I appreciate you taking so good care of me, I really do, but I’ve been telling you that I’m fine for over five minutes now!” Riku exclaimed with a fond smile on his face. His and Iori’s earlier kissing had soon been interrupted by an impromptu coughing fit on Riku’s side, immediately reminding the raven-haired man of the other’s condition. Iori had since then done just about everything he could to check up on and improve Riku’s condition. And while it was sweet how much he cared, Riku was almost starting to get a bit annoyed once the other had started to double check everything.

“Are you sure though? You really shouldn’t push yourself.” Iori said, still looking slightly concerned. “I feel great, now that you’re here.” Riku said, and it had the desired effect, Iori immediately flushed and forgot his worries, blushing and looking away. “Good.” He muttered, barely audible. 

“So,” Riku then started. “Why don’t you tell me what happened these past few days while I was stuck here in bed? How did you know where to look?” He asked, and Iori started explaining. “Well, Yotsuba-san found your coat stuck between two rocks in the river, so we made an educated guess and followed the stream. Then, we met up with your brother and his company along the way and-” 

“Wait, you met up with my brother?!” Riku exclaimed loudly. “Where is he now?! Can I see him?!” He asked. Iori grabbed his shoulders and pushed the overly excited redhead back down onto the bed. “Calm down! Yes, we met up with your brother, and I’m pretty sure he’s either in the other room or outside in the garden. We can go see him later, just let me finish first, okay?” He asked, Riku took a deep breath and then nodded, although Iori could see a small trace of disappointment in his eyes. 

“How did you not know that already, though? He was there earlier when we arrived, right behind me…” Iori stated, after which he could clearly see Riku’s face quickly turning red. “W-well, you know, at the time I was, uh…” Riku stuttered out before he looked away with a pout, his face still bright red. Iori raised an eyebrow in question. “I was kind of focused on you and didn’t really think about anything else…” Riku said, his words getting quieter and quieter as he kept talking. 

Iori covered his mouth, trying to stifle a laugh. Riku looked at him as if he had seriously offended him, still blushing, and then he hit him lightly on the chest. “It’s not funny you jerk!” He exclaimed. Iori smiled at him and grabbed his hands so that he would stop hitting him, even though it clearly didn’t hurt. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Iori said with a smile. Riku made a ‘humph’ sound and looked away. ‘He’s so cute.’ Iori thought to himself. 

Iori then cleared his throat. “Well, let’s continue. After we met up with your brother, and he had finished trying to kill us all with looks and words alone, he joined us along with two other people, Yaotome Gaku, the prince, and this other guy named Tsunashi Ryuunosuke, I believe he was a knight.” He said. Riku nodded. “Yeah, Yaotome-san and Tsunashi-san are also childhood friends, at least that’s what Tenn-nii told me.” He explained. 

Iori continued. “We kept walking along the river until we reached Tulsey, where we spent the night at an inn, and once we woke up, Nikaido-san and Osaka-san went out to buy something to eat, which was when they met Momo-san and Yuki-san. Apparently Nikaido-san is acquainted with them since a while back. We mentioned we were looking for someone, they mentioned they had found someone, we made a connection and followed them here.” Iori finished explaining. 

Riku nodded. “Is that all?” He then asked. Iori was about to say yes when he remembered that there was probably something else he should tell Riku. “There is one more thing that happened that you should probably know about.” He said. Riku looked at him quizzically. “I might have, accidentally, revealed your secret…” Iori said. “What?” Riku questioned. 

“My brother, and the others, they know that you’re not a girl.” Iori repeated. Riku’s eyes were blown wide and his breathing picked up its pace. Iori noticed this and wrapped an arm around Riku’s shoulder, pulling him closer and trying to calm him down. “B-but that’s… Oh God, what do I do now? T-they’re going to… I’ll…” He stuttered out, clearly panicking a bit. “It’s okay! It’s okay!” Iori told him while rubbing his back. “They were surprised, but I made sure to explain it all clearly, they’re okay with it and they promised not to tell anyone else.” Iori reassured Riku. 

Riku looked up at Iori, his eyes still held a lot of fear and it completely broke Iori’s heart to see him like that. “Really? But why would they do that? I’m a liar and a horrible person and I don’t deserve to just be forgiven like that, I-” Riku started but was promptly interrupted by Iori. “Stop that!” He yelled, startling Riku slightly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. But please, don’t say that about yourself. You’re not horrible, you’re not at fault. When you told me, remember how I wasn’t angry with you?” Iori paused and Riku nodded. “It’s just like that, they could understand that there were certain… circumstances around why you had to do it. If anything, I just made it so that they all now hate your parents.” Iori continued. 

Riku looked up at him, a bittersweet smile on his lips. “I wouldn’t blame them if they hated me…” He said and Iori sighed. “I told you, it’s really not as bad as you think. I won’t let them hate you for something like that, because you’re not in the wrong.” Iori said. “Well yeah, but I’m pretty sure you’re biased.” Riku said, still with a sad smile. “I don’t care how many times I have to say it, I’ll keep supporting you until you believe me. So don’t put yourself down, if I came to love you despite everything, don’t you think you should be able to do the same?” Iori said and cupped Riku’s cheek. 

Riku closed his eyes and leaned into Iori’s touch. “Okay. Okay, I’m sorry for freaking out. Thank you, Iori.” Riku said calmly and smiled. Iori smiled back. “You don’t need to thank me, I’ll always be here for you.” Riku smiled brighter at that, then he leaned in and placed a quick peck on Iori’s cheek. Smiling, Iori pulled the other into a hug, still feeling a bit flustered by their closeness. 

Then, all of a sudden, Riku realized something. He pulled away and looked seriously at Iori. “What about Tsukumo Ryou?!” He asked. Iori looked a bit confused at first, but then he realized what Riku was talking about. “Shit!” He exclaimed. “We totally forgot everything about him! I can’t speak for the others, but I couldn’t really think about anything other than finding you. I’m really sorry, he must have gone with the reminder of your brother’s group back to Talin, they were going to report to the king.” Iori explained. 

Riku nodded. “It’s fine, I had also completely forgotten about it to be honest. But I think maybe it’s time to talk to them about it.” He said. Iori agreed before he helped Riku out of the bed so that they could find the rest of the group. 

Iori and Riku walked out of the house hand in hand. Riku was wrapped in a blanket, just like before, much to his dismay as he had been feeling really warm before they left and thought it was unnecessary. However, Iori had been persistent in that he needed to keep warm, since he didn’t want him to feel any worse later. 

They had to walk around to the back of the cabin, where they found the rest sat down on some logs, talking about who knows what. Before they even had the chance to call out to them, a certain redhead’s twin brother noticed their arrival and promptly stood up, catching the attention of everyone around them. “Riku!” He exclaimed as he jogged over to where Iori and Riku were. 

Riku let go of Iori’s hand and went ahead to meet his brother. “Tenn-nii!” He said, his voice shaking a bit from all the emotions that emerged from seeing his precious twin again after having spent such a long time apart from one another. 

The moment Tenn reached Riku he pulled the younger boy into a hug. Riku immediately returned the embrace, laughing as he buried his face in his big brother’s shoulder, effectively both hiding his tears and taking in the comforting scent of the other. “I missed you so much.” Riku mumbled into Tenn’s shirt, making him smile gently. “I missed you too.” Tenn replied. 

Tenn then pulled back, cupped Riku’s face in his hands and looked him over. “Are you okay? How’s your fever? Do you have any big injuries?” He asked worriedly. Riku smiled and shook his head. “I feel fine, a lot better than earlier! And no, I don’t have any big injuries, just some really small cuts and bruises, which by the way, are almost fully healed by now.” Riku answered. Tenn looked at his brother skeptically, he knew Riku sometimes tended to underestimate his own health. Riku just rolled his eyes. “I’m really okay, I’m not fully back to normal yet, but like I said, it’s a lot better than it was before.” He said, and this time Tenn sighed but nodded. 

“I knew I couldn’t leave you with that bastard, I told him to take care of you and he doesn’t even notice when something like this happens? He hasn’t hurt you before, right? I’ll kill him if he does.” Tenn rambled on and Riku looked at his twin in disbelief. “Who? Iori?” He asked, Tenn nodded. “Oh my god. I can’t believe you! Listen, Iori has been nothing but good to me! He has never hurt me and always makes sure that I’m comfortable and safe. What happened the other day was because of my own recklessness, he was not at fault, so you're not allowed to blame him!” Riku exclaimed. 

Tenn looked away with a pout. Riku kept talking. “And please don’t kill him, I kind of really like him and would be sad if you did.” This caught Tenn’s attention as he turned back to face his brother. “Like him? In what way? Why? He’s just… He’s… Why would you like someone like him?” He asked. Riku looked almost offended once he heard what Tenn said and immediately got ready to defend Iori. 

“Okay, first of all, yes I like him, I’d even go as far as to say that I love him. I don’t care what you think, because this is mine, these are my feelings, and it’s my relationship, it’s none of your concern. And by the way, Iori is an amazing guy, why wouldn’t I like him? He’s so kind, and really smart, he’s good looking and becomes really cute when he’s flustered, he’s very talented, for example, he’s amazing cook, and I just feel really happy and comfortable and safe with him.” Riku explained. 

Tenn still couldn’t quite believe what Riku was telling him, how had his brother, his precious baby brother, suddenly fallen in love with this man he had been forced to marry? It just didn’t make any sense if you asked Tenn. He was about to argue some more, but then he noticed how truly happy Riku looked while just thinking about the other, and somehow, all of his arguments were forgotten. He sighed. “If you’re happy, then that’s great. But don’t think I’m accepting that person anytime soon.” Tenn said stubbornly. 

Riku smiled at his brother’s antics. “Thank you, but could you at least stop referring to Iori as ‘him’, or ‘that man’, or ‘that person’? I get that you don’t like him, but please? For me?” He asked, giving Tenn his best puppy dog eyes, and he knew instantly that his brother was a goner. Tenn pouted and blushed before nodding. 

While this exchange was going on, Iori had gone over to join the others. “Hey, how is he feeling?” Mitsuki asked as Iori went to sit down beside him. “Better, but still not too good. He’s definitely going to need to rest for a day or two before leaving this place.” He explained. Mitsuki nodded and looked over to where Riku and Tenn were standing. 

“You know,” Nagi started. “It’s kind of weird seeing Riku like that, without the get up I mean, and yet it’s not nearly as weird as I thought it would be. I don’t know, I guess I thought he’d look more… different?” He said. Iori smiled at him. “Yeah, it’s really not that big of a difference, he just wears different clothes and a wig that makes his hair look longer. Well, he does wear make-up too, but it’s really not that noticeable.” He said. 

Mitsuki chuckled beside him and Iori turned to face his brother, an eyebrow raised in question. “I just thought that Nagi’s right, he looks exactly the same, just with less hair and less feminine and fancy clothing.” Mitsuki pointed out. They kept talking along these lines for a few minutes before Tenn and Riku came over, Riku taking a seat besides Iori and Tenn right up against Riku’s side. 

Riku then looked at Iori and they both shared a look before nodding. “Guys.” Riku said then, directing his attention to the rest, especially to Tenn, Gaku and Ryuunosuke. “There is actually a reason we came to Myronia, there’s something that you really need to know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Next chapter will be out on Wednesday and will, just like this one, pick up where I left off in this chapter. ^^ I hope you all had/are having/will have a wonderful day, and I'll see you on Wednesday! <3 Thank you all so much for leaving kudos, comments and bookmarks, or for reaching out to me elsewhere, it really means so much to me! <3<3<3


	41. Taking Action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riku tell Tenn, Gaku and Ryuunosuke the truth about why they came to Pandragora, what will they do next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a new chapter! Once again, I've recieved some wonderful fanart, this time from @pris0nmike_ on Twitter (Thank you so much!!!), so be sure to check that out: https://twitter.com/pris0nmike_/status/1127785875079868417  
> Now then, let's get on to the story! ^^ If you want to find me anywhere, you can either do so on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

“Okay.” Tenn started. “So, what you’re saying is that you just happened to find a cave, in which you just happened to find a sigil that looked exactly like the one on the letter ordering the queen's death? Also, you believe that someone by the name ‘Tsukumo’ used to live there, and Tsukumo just so happens to be the name of the very first royal family of Myronia? And you also managed to confirm that, not only does that sigil really belong to the Tsukumo family, but also to something called ‘the Tsukumo Group’, and that they are active today and doing business with the Osaka family? And the reason you came here was because you learned that there was someone with the Tsukumo name in our investigation unit?” Tenn asked.

Riku nodded. “That’s a pretty good summary, yeah.” He answered. Gaku and Ryuunosuke both looked at him with a mix of shock and astonishment. “And you just happened upon all of this information when we have been following false clues all over Pandragora? How did you even know about the letter and the sigil in the first place?” Gaku then questioned. “Well…” Riku started before he looked at Tenn, who in turn sighed. “I told him about it, before I returned here from the wedding.” He explained. 

“What the hell?” Gaku exclaimed, looking irritated at Tenn. “This investigation was supposed to be top secret, you brat!” Tenn just sighed. “Don’t you think I know that? But isn’t it because I told my brother that we found out all of this? I don’t regret my actions.” Tenn said. Gaku sighed and rubbed the back of his head. “Now, now, Tenn didn’t mean to go against you, and it’s true we got some great information out of it!” Ryuunosuke said, trying to appease the situation. 

“Fine, I’ll let this go, but don’t do it again.” Gaku said. Tenn scoffed but agreed. “Anyway,” Riku then interrupted. “What are we going to do about Tsukumo Ryou? Are you going to confront him? Or keep investigating until you know more?” He asked, and all eyes, including Tenn and Ryuunosuke, turned to Gaku. 

The gray-haired man just sighed. “Honestly? We should probably investigate some more, and then come at him with more solid proof, but I honestly just want this to be over already. That bastard had my mother killed.” He said, his eyes filled with anger as he said that last part. Tenn rolled his eyes. “So, confrontation it is then.” He said. 

Ryuunosuke smiled and patted both Gaku and Tenn on the shoulders, before he turned to Riku, Iori and the others. “Thank you for sharing your finds with us, it really has been a huge help!” He said at first. They all smiled back at him before he kept talking. “What will you be doing now?” He then asked. 

Riku and Iori looked at each other at first, then back at Mitsuki, Yamato, Nagi, Tamaki and Sougo. “Well,” Yamato started. “We finished what we came here to do, so I’m not entirely sure. We could head back to Pandragora, or maybe spend some time sightseeing around here.” He said with a wink at the end. “But then again…” He continued. “It feels sort of wrong to just leave this issue with you guys. I can’t speak for all of us, but do you want any help?” He asked at last. 

Gaku and Ryuunosuke looked at each other. “You’d be willing to help with this?” They asked in unison. “I would, at least.” Yamato said. Sougo then stood up. “I’d like to stay and help too. If my father has anything to do with this, I want to find out what.” He said determinedly. “If Sou-chan stays, then I stay too.” Tamaki exclaimed. “There’s also that one theory that Tsukumo Ryou might be behind the fire in the castle in Northmeir, for the sake of learning the truth, I too shall stay if you will allow me.” Nagi said with a slight bow. 

“I want to help too!” Riku exclaimed. “Really?” Iori asked and Riku nodded. Iori smiled at him. “Then we’ll help.” Iori confirmed, making Riku respond with a brighter smile. “I can’t very well go back on my own, I guess we’re all helping out then.” Mitsuki declared with an energetic smile. 

Gaku looked slightly relieved at their answers. “Well, we’d gladly use all the help we can get. Thanks.” He said. Ryuunosuke just smiled at them and thanked them. The problem, however, was the third member of the investigation unit. “Hang on a minute, I don’t care about the others, but no way am I letting you anywhere near that crazy bastard! Especially not in your current state!” Tenn exclaimed, directing his words at Riku. 

Riku looked at his brother with an almost offended expression. “You can’t just decide that! And I’ve been getting a lot better really fast! I bet I’ll be fully recovered after resting for a day or two!” He said. “What if we don’t have a day or two? I’m not taking you there while you’re sick!” Tenn yelled back at him. “Actually,” Gaku interrupted. “A day or two might be exactly what we need, I’d like to make some preparations, we’ve got planning to do, and I would also love to take a closer look at everything you guys found in Pandragora.” He explained, directing his last words at Yamato and the rest, who all nodded in reply. 

“Not helping.” Tenn gritted out while glaring at Gaku. The gray-haired man just smirked in reply. Tenn then turned back to look at Riku. “Okay, if you’re perfectly healthy by the time we’re leaving, you can come, but if there’s even a tiny trace of this fever left at the time, you’re staying here, or going back to Pandragora, I don't care which as long as you stay far away from Tsukumo Ryou. Understood?” He asked. Riku looked at his brother seriously. “Okay. I promise, if I still feel sick, I won’t come. But you have to promise that you’ll actually let me come along ifI'm not. I know how you get, don’t try to find some other reason to make me stay behind.” He answered. 

Tenn sighed. “I’m still against this, but okay.” He said. Riku smiled at him. “I’m not as fragile as I used to be, you know.” He said. Tenn gave him a sad smile in return. “I know.” He said, and then he leaned in closer. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop worrying about you.” He whispered in Riku’s ear so that nobody else could hear him. 

“You guys!” They then heard someone yell from the cabin, it was Momo who was sticking his head out from one of the windows. “We made dinner if you’d like some!” He said with a bright smile. He, Yuki and Banri had left some time earlier, evidently to make dinner. “I think that sounds like a good idea, besides, you should get back inside, it’s getting colder out here.” Iori said while looking at Riku. They all agreed and then they went inside the cabin to eat. 

After they had all eaten, they had decided that it would be best to go back to Tulsey and spend the night at the same inn wher they had stayed the night before. Not only did they still have some of their stuff there, but there was no way everyone would be able to sleep in the small cabin belonging to Yuki, Momo and Banri. Although, Riku would be staying at the cabin, since they didn’t want him to have to walk back to Tulsey in the evening while he still wasn’t feeling too well. 

Both Iori and Tenn had wanted to stay in the cabin with Riku, but there was only room for one of them. Because of this, an argument between the two of them had ensued. Riku had tried to calm the two of them down, but had started coughing and shivering, so he was promptly told to go back to bed. Again, both Iori and Tenn had wanted to go with him, but as they still needed to settle who stayed where tonight, Sougo had ended up following Riku to the bed and taking care of him for now. 

After another thirty minutes of arguing between two of the younger members of the group, the others had gotten awfully tired of listening to them. Gaku sighed in irritation before he walked up and hit Tenn lightly in the head. “If you guys can’t come to an agreement, I’ll just decide for you! Tenn, you’re coming with us back to Tulsey, you’re going to need to be there tomorrow anyway, to help with the preparations for confronting Tsukumo. Just let the younger Izumi stay and take care of your brother, he clearly wants to do it just as badly as you do.” Gaku said. 

Tenn glared at Gaku, but soon agreed anyway, although he still would have preferred it if he had been the one to stay. Before they left, Tenn went to see Riku. The moment he entered the room, Sougo politely left. Riku looked at his brother curiously. “Will you be staying here tonight?” He asked. Tenn sighed. “No.” He simply answered before he sat down on the bed. 

Riku smiled and reached out to grab Tenn’s hand in his. “You really don’t have to worry about Iori, you know? He’s been really kind to me since the start, and I really care about him too. I’d be really happy if you could maybe learn to like him too, or at least accept him. Because I love him, and I also really love you. Maybe I’m being selfish now, but I don’t like seeing two people I really care about fight like that.” Riku said. 

Tenn looked at Riku. “I’ll try, but not for him, for you. I can’t promise anything more than that right now, if that’s okay.” He said. Riku smiled and pulled his brother in for a hug. “That’s okay. Thank you.” He said. Tenn hugged Riku back and smiled. “I love you too by the way.” He then said, making Riku smile brightly. 

Tenn pulled away and stroked Riku’s hair a few times before standing up. “I’ll come see you tomorrow. Goodnight.” He said before leaving the room. “Goodnight!” Riku called after him. 

A few minutes after Tenn left, Iori entered the room. Riku smiled softly at him and gestured for him to come join him on the bed. Iori, of course, wasted no time and got over to Riku, sitting down on the bed beside him. “I don’t think your brother likes me very much.” He stated. Riku chuckled. “He doesn’t, but he’ll try to get better. I promise, he’s not a bad person, just a bit overprotective. He always have been.” Riku said and Iori nodded, rolling his eyes as he thought that Tenn was more than 'a bit' overprotective. 

“Well,” Iori started. “It’s getting late, and you need to rest. Is there anything you’d like before going to sleep? Something to eat or drink? An extra blanket?” Iori asked. “No, I’m fine.” Riku replied. Iori then stood up to leave the room and head out to the sofa that Momo, Yuki and Banri had prepared for him. 

Seeing him starting to leave, however, made Riku feel a bit unnerved. He promptly reached out and grabbed a hold of the hem of Iori’s shirt. Iori turned to look at the other boy. “Can’t you stay in here? We could share the bed?” Riku proposed shyly, suddenly feeling very aware of everything around him. 

“Are you sure? It’ll be a tight fit, won’t you be uncomfortable?” Iori asked in concern. Riku shook his head. “Actually, it felt really lonely the other night when you weren’t here. I guess I kind of got used to sharing a bed with you? Ah! But I don’t want to force you if you’d rather sleep by yourself in the other room!” Riku exclaimed. 

Iori smiled softly down at Riku, he really was too cute for his own good. “Well, I’d love to stay if that’s what you want.” Iori said. “Scoot over.” He then instructed the other. Riku did so immediately, leaving enough room for Iori to fit on the same bed. Iori lay down, and carefully pulled Riku closer to him, both boys laying on their sides close to each other. Iori had an arm under Riku’s head and the other slung over his waist, Riku rested both of his hands on Iori’s chest. 

“Comfy?” Iori asked. Riku nodded and smiled before quickly drifting off to sleep. It wasn’t long until Iori could hear light snores coming from the other. He smiled gently at him and placed a light kiss on his forehead before whispering. “Goodnight Riku.” Then he too fell asleep. 

Two full days went by in the blink of an eye. Iori and Riku had stayed in the cabin the entire time, Tenn had visited twice, Mitsuki, Sougo and Tamaki came by one time as well. Riku was feeling a lot better by now, and when the third day rolled by and Tenn came to tell him and Iori that they were leaving for Talin later that day, Riku said that he was undoubtedly well enough to go with them. Tenn was skeptical at first, but when both Iori, Momo, Yuki and Banri told him the same thing, he had to give in. 

About an hour later, Riku said his thanks and goodbyes to the three men who had been so kind to him, who had found and sheltered him, who had treated him and fed him. He received a hug from Momo, a kind smile and a pat on the shoulder from Yuki, as well as an affectionate pat on the head from Banri. The three of them were staying in Tulsey and thus this was goodbye for now. Riku would never forget their kindness and declared to Iori and Tenn on the way back to Tulsey that he would definitely come back some day and repay them. 

The three soon reached the inn in Tulsey, where everyone but Iori and Riku had spent the last couple of days. The rest of the group were waiting outside, all ready to get going. “So,” Gaku started. “Who’s ready to finally get some answers?” He asked with a smirk. Then, they all left the small town behind and started their journey back to Talin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, it's time to say goodbye to Re:vale... :( For now at least! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll be back on Saturday as usual with the next chapter! ^^ Thank you guys so much for reading, and for supporting me and this story by leaving kudos, comments and other things! <3


	42. Back to Talin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group leave Tulsey in order to head back to Talin and confront Tsukumo Ryou about what they know, but first they need to find him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Saturday, so I'm back with a new chapter! I hope you guys enjoy this update, and if you have any questions or simply want to talk, you can contact me on one of my social media accounts, my tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or my Twitter: @EFagerhag

The plan was rather simple, really. Once the group reached Talin, they would try to find Tsukumo Ryou and then confront him directly about their findings, after which they would report the results to the king, Gaku’s father. Simple, right? Except they had no idea what kind of person Tsukumo Ryou was, even though Gaku, Tenn and Ryuunosuke had all met him, being in the same unit and all, he had supposedly taken up very little space.

They didn’t know anything about their incentives or any big things regarding the Tsukumo group. How big were they? How long had they been active? Were they really related to the Tsukumo family? Why did they want the Myronian queen dead? Were they also the ones behind the fire in Northmeir? There were just too many uncertainties, too many things regarding this that they still didn’t know. 

So, while the plan may seem simple, it was also very risky. 

As of right now, they could see Talin in the distance, meaning they were probably only about half an hour away. Iori and Riku were sharing a carriage with Mitsuki, Tenn and Gaku, while the others were in the other carriage they had gotten. Since they were getting close, Riku looked over at Gaku and decided to ask some more about the plan, as he had been recovering while they had been preparing. “I get what the plan is, but how are we going to find Tsukumo Ryou? You never mentioned that part.” He said. 

Gaku looked over and rubbed the back of his head. “Well, he shouldn’t be too hard to find. Because you forgot to tell us about this when we first met, he wasn’t able to hear it, meaning he probably has no idea we’re on to him. Because of this, he won’t have a reason to hide in the first place, so we should be able to find him easily. That’s the part of the plan I’m the least worried about, the real thing starts after that, we have absoluetly no idea how he will respond to our accusations.” Gaku explained. 

Riku nodded, he too had been thinking about that. What would they do if he denied it? Was what they had really enough proof? And what would they do if he confirmed it? Would he give up after having been found out? Would he fight back? Then there’s also the issue that there might be more people involved, so even if they caught Tsukumo Ryou, does that really mean they won? Does that really mean it’s over? Riku sighed, there was just too much surrounding all of this that was too unclear. 

“By the way, I have another question, something I’ve been wondering since we left…” Mitsuki said, getting the attention of everyone else in the carriage. Mitsuki turned to look at Riku. “Is all of this really necessary?” He then asked and just gestured to all of the redheaded boy who just seemed genuinely confused. “All of what?” He asked. 

“Well…” Mitsuki started. “Was it really necessary to dress up like that? We all know the truth already, so if you’re more comfortable not looking like a woman, it’s okay. I mean, this is okay too, I just thought, you know…” He rambled. Riku smiled at Mitsuki’s words, glad that the other seemed to care about him being comfortable, and also a bit amused by the other getting so flustered, it was the first time he had seen Iori’s brother like that after all. 

“It’s fine, really! Besides, even if you guys know the truth, to the general public I’m still supposed to be a woman. Barely anyone knew I existed before the whole arranged marriage thing, so most people know me as ‘the daughter who married for connections’. It might be bad if people find out that I’m not actually female, and it’s really not that bad once you get used to it.” He explained. 

“I see…” Mitsuki said, a slightly sad expression on his face from thinking about all Riku had been made to go through in the past. “That’s totally unfair to you, though, isn’t it?” He asked. Tenn clicked his tongue in the seat across from them. “That’s why I was against this whole marriage thing from the start.” He said, directing a glare in Iori’s direction as if everything was his fault. Riku noticed this and lightly hit his brother’s arm. “Behave.” Was all he told him before sighing and turning back to Mitsuki. 

“It may be unfair, but it’s kind of too late to turn back now. Besides, even if I wanted to go back, I doubt my parents would take me in, and I’m perfectly happy where I am! I wouldn’t want to leave even if I could! Thank you, by the way, Mitsuki-san, I’m really grateful to you being so kind and accepting!” He said with a bright smile directed at Mitsuki while squeezing Iori’s hand. Mitsuki smiled back. 

“If there’s one thing that’s bothering me,” Riku continued. “It’s that I’m still lying to your parents, they’ve been so kind, I feel really bad for deceiving them like this…” He said. Mitsuki and Iori shared a look before they both turned to look at Riku. “Well, I’m sure they would be shocked, but I think they’d get over it. They’ve always said that family is the one most important thing we have in life, and you’re already part of it! Besides, if Iori begged them to forgive you and let you stay, I bet they’d have no choice but to agree!” Mitsuki said, smiling at the end. 

Iori flushed at his brother’s implications. “Nii-san!” He exclaimed. Mitsuki just laughed and patted Iori’s head. Riku smiled at their interactions. “If they did kick you out though, just let me know, I’ll help you out.” Tenn said, smiling gently at his younger twin. Riku smiled back. “I know you will, but hopefully it won’t come to that.” He then said cheerfully. Part of Tenn was relieved that Riku seemed so happy with the Izumis, but another part of him felt a bit sad and lonely seeing that Riku didn’t need Tenn in the same way he did before. 

“Sorry to interrupt.” Gaku suddenly said. “But we’ve arrived.” And sure enough, the carriage had come to a stop in the central parts of Talin. “That was quicker than I thought it would be…” Mitsuki mumbled to himself. They all exited the carriage and met up with the rest of the group. 

“So, where do we start looking?” Yamato questioned. “We have a few places to start with, he could be at the palace if he’s still working on that report, he could be at the royal knight’s headquarter where we train, and then there’s always the small apartment he lives in. I say we check these places first, hopefully we’ll find him, and if we don’t, we’ll think of what to do then.” Gaku explained. 

Everyone nodded, but both Iori and Riku couldn’t help but think that the plan was lacking in certain aspects, like what they would do if they couldn’t find him. Nonetheless, they followed the others as they first started heading over to the tower which served as the headquarter for Myronia’s royal knights. 

There, they met a few other members of the investigation unit, however, it seemed Tsukumo Ryou must be somewhere else. They asked for him and learned that he had turned in the report to the king the other day, and after that they had all been ordered to wait for Gaku, Tenn and Ryuunosuke’s return before continuing with the investigation, unless something big happened in their absence. Since they all had to wait, it was likely that Tsukumo Ryou was back in his own home, since he clearly wasn’t in the knight’s tower. 

The other members had been a bit confused when Gaku and the others had asked for Tsukumo Ryou, and even more so when Gaku wouldn’t explain why he was looking for him. The rest of the unit had also been eager to continue the investigation and thus they were a bit disappointed when Gaku had simply told them to stay put for the time being. The prince and the rest had decided against telling anyone about their suspicions against Tsukumo for now, just in case they were wrong, they didn’t want to get anyone else involved in it. 

They didn’t waste any more time in the tower, instead they left and started heading toward Tsukumo’s apartment. “So,” Riku started. “Where exactly is his apartment?” He asked while looking curiously at Gaku. “He lives above a small bookstore, he used to work there as payment before he started doing paperwork for my father about two years ago.” He answered. 

“Wait, wait, wait!” Riku exclaimed and stopped in his tracks. The others stopped as well and turned around to face him. “You mean to say that you knew him before all of this?” He then asked. Gaku shrugged. “Not really. I knew who he was, but I had only actually met him once, right after my dad hired him.” Riku looked down on the ground, thinking hard. 

Iori walked up to Riku, seemingly a bit worried about him as he was acting a bit weird. “What’s wrong?” He asked as he reached the redhead. Riku shook his head. “Nothing’s wrong, I think… What Yaotome-san said just got me thinking.” Riku said first before he started pacing back and forth in the middle of the street. “Yaotome-san.” Riku addressed Gaku, who looked at him with a questioning look. 

“Do you know if your father asked Tsukumo Ryou to work for him, or if Tsukumo approached your father? And why did he hire him in the first place?” Riku asked. “Hmm…” Gaku said as he thought back to the time when he had heard about his father hiring Tsukumo. “Well, I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think it was Tsukumo who approached my father. The last person who used to help my father with his paperwork suddenly quit, a middle-aged man named Kujou Takamasa, he claimed he wanted to move back home and focus on the family business? Which is a bit weird, his family were pharmacists who lived in Vernort, but the reason Kujou came to work for my father in the first place was because he had no interest in medicine at all.” Gaku explained before taking a short break. 

He soon continued. “It hadn’t even been a day since Kujou quit when my father hired Tsukumo, I don’t know if he knew about him since before or if he just met him then.” Gaku finished. Ryuunosuke then stepped forward. “Didn’t Kujou Takamasa go missing one or two months ago? Just after we started investigating, right?” He asked and Gaku nodded, confirming this. The Myronian prince then turned back to Riku. “Why do you ask?” 

Riku looked deep in thought as he gave his reply. “I was just thinking, if he worked for your father, he must have had many chances to interact with both him and your mother. I’m just trying to think of a possible incentive he could have had if he’s really responsible for your mother’s death. If your father approached him, it’s likely that it could be for more personal reasons, in which case it’s likely that Tsukumo Ryou has no connections to what happened in Pandragora, either that or he was called out to after he started working for your father. However, if it’s the other way around, isn’t it possible that he reached out to your father with the intentions of getting closer? Maybe he wanted information or an opportunity? Or maybe he wanted your father’s trust? It’s possible that whatever this is, it could be a lot bigger than any of us could have ever anticipated…” Riku explained. 

The others looked at Riku with shocked expressions. “That,” Tenn started. “Is a great observation, good job Riku.” He said with a smile and patted his brother on the arm. “Thank you, Tenn-nii!” Riku said cheerily back. “I could always ask my dad later, to be more certain about this. Good thinking.” Gaku said and Riku smiled and nodded. 

“If we then follow that pattern of thought…” Sougo interrupted. “Isn’t it possible that the previous guy, that Kujou-san, is somehow involved in it too? It was awfully convenient for him to just quit right before Tsukumo came into the picture. And his disappearance too, seems very conveniently timed.” He stated. 

“I guess it’s possible, good thinking, Sougo-kun!” Ryuunosuke said, making Sougo blush slightly, which seemed to kind of upset Tamaki? Riku was slightly confused as he watched the scene unfold before him, but immediately let it go. “Well, that’s certainly a possibility, but we shouldn’t draw any conclusions right now, we could try and investigate that once we’re finished with Tsukumo.” Gaku said. The others nodded and then they were once again walking toward Tsukumo Ryou’s home. 

They reached the small bookstore about fifteen minutes later. “He lives on the third floor.” Gaku explained and everyone nodded. They moved to the back, were there were stairs leading up, and slowly made their way up to the third floor. They knocked on the door, no reply. They knocked again, still nothing. Gaku then opened the door and walked in, followed by Tenn, Ryuunosuke and everyone else. The moment they were all inside, the door closed loudly behind them, and in the entrance there stood a man. 

Gaku looked at him with a scowl. “Tsukumo Ryou.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh, another cliffhanger! It's been a while since I left you on one, but now they're back! ;) I'll be back on Wednesday when I'll be properly introducing Tsukumo Ryou for the first time, don't know if I should tell you to look forward to it or to be scared... ^^ Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading this chapter, and I truly hope you liked it! Also, thank you even more to those who leave kudos, comments, or something else to support me and this fanfic, it means the world to me! <3<3


	43. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The time has come for the confrontation with Tsukumo Ryou!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hell everyone! Its Wednesday, so I'm back with a new chapter! Before we get on with that, you might have noticed that this is chapter 43/56, I've planned out all the remaining chapters, and only have 3 left to write ^^ The last one, aka ch 56, will be an epilogue, so the main story ends in ch 55. I won't go into too much detail right now, but I'm both excited and sad to soon be sharing the conclusion to this story! With that said, please enjoy this chapter!  
> If you have any questions, or just wanna talk, you can either find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

_SLAM!_

They all turned around at the loud sound of the front door closing behind them. In front of the door there stood a man who looked like he might be in his early thirties, though it was a bit hard to determine whether this was actually the case or not. He had pale skin, messy, dark purple hair and thin, light brown eyes. “Tsukumo.” Gaku said as he saw the man. 

Riku swallowed. So, this was Tsukumo Ryou. Right now, they could be standing in the same room as the one responsible for the Myronian queen’s death. Riku could see the man observing them, and when his gaze locked with his own, Riku felt a shiver go down his spine. There was something extremely unnerving about this man, even more so than Osaka Soushi, Yaotome Sousuke or anyone he had ever met before. 

Then, Tsukumo Ryou smiled. “Your highness.” He said with a bow. “I did not expect a visit from you, and while I am certainly pleased, I don’t think it’s very nice of you to simply… wander into someone else’s home without their permission.” He said as he took a few steps forward so that they were now all stood in what they presumed to be Tsukumo’s living room. “However, I shall not hold it against you. So, what brings you here?” He asked, a smile that looked both extremely convincing, yet very false on his lips. 

Gaku sighed and turned around to face him. “I apologize for the intrusion. Maybe next time someone knocks on your door, you should consider actually answering? At least to let them know that you’re home.” He said. Tsukumo chuckled. “I do apologize, I was in the bathroom and barely heard you, you see.” He then answered and Gaku nodded. “As for why we’re here, there is something we would like to discuss with you, and it’s rather urgent, which was why we entered without your permission.” Gaku continued, sounding very professional while talking. 

Tsukumo nodded and sat down on the couch. “Before that, I’d very much appreciate to know just who all of these people in my home are. If you wouldn’t mind introducing them, that is. As of right now, I only know you, Tenn and Ryuunosuke over there.” He said. “They’re acquaintances of ours, you really don’t need to know much more.” Gaku said, the others could all notice that he was getting a bit antsy, he clearly didn’t like how much control Tsukumo seemed to have over the current situation. 

“I see.” Tsukumo said, still sounding rather pleased which was a bit unnerving. Gaku then sighed. “Well then, I think it’s time we get to the point already.” He said. Tsukumo nodded and gestured for the other to continue. “Go on.” He then said. Gaku sat down opposite of Tsukumo and looked him in the eyes, a serious and slightly angry look on his face. 

“We have found evidence that suggests that the sigil on the letter ordering the death of the queen, my mother, might actually belong to you. Or at least that it belongs to something called ‘the Tsukumo Group’, with your surname being Tsukumo, I figured you might know of it.” Gaku explained. For a moment, Tsukumo Ryou looked taken aback, telling them that he had in fact not been anticipating something like this, however, it wasn’t long until he regained his composure. 

“You don’t truly believe that I am the one behind this, do you? Your highness?” He asked, sounding slightly concerned. Riku looked at Tsukumo, and even though he had only just met him, he had a strong feeling that the older man was just bluffing, that it was all just an act. After all, his eyes looked like the eyes of someone who was very pleased with themselves, and it deeply unsettled Riku. 

Before Gaku could answer, Tsukumo started talking again. “If you wouldn’t mind, could you perhaps show me this evidence?” He asked innocently. Gaku narrowed his eyes at Tsukumo. “Let’s just say that we have official documents about the Tsukumo Group, or the old Tsukumo family if that happens to be more relevant to this, complete with the sigil and all. So, tell me, is all of this your doing?” He asked harshly. 

Tsukumo was still smiling and looked just as relaxed as one would while simply sitting down and talking about the weather. It was awfully infuriating how calm he seemed to be. “So, you mean to tell me that just because my name is Tsukumo, you believe I am responsible for the current situation? It couldn’t be a coincidence? You’re going to need more convincing proof than that, you know.” He said slyly. 

“I asked you a simple question!” Gaku then yelled out while standing up quickly, sending the chair he had been sitting un tumbling to the floor. “Are you, or are you not responsible for my mother’s death? It’s a yes or no question, you should be able to come up with an answer.” He continued angrily while staring at Tsukumo Ryou with an unforgiving gaze. 

Then, all of a sudden, it was as if Tsukumo decided to simply throw away all his masks, to end the act abruptly. He smiled, and he smiled brightly, his eyes were filled with a mixture of anger, delight and hysteria. And then he started laughing out loud. Whoever was in front of them right now was not the same as the calculating man who had sat there before, he looked hands down crazy. 

Once he had seemingly calmed down, Tsukumo looked at Gaku with an amused expression. “I did not kill your mother.” He then said. “That wasn’t the question!” Gaku roared. “We already know the assassins who did it! What we don’t know is who ordered them to do it, who the one behind it all is, and why they wanted her dead! That is what I’m asking you about! Are you the one behind it, or do you know who it could be!? Give me an answer!” Gaku asked aggressively. 

“Why bother? It’s clear to me that you’ve already made up your mind that I’m the villain in this case.” Tsukumo replied nonchalantly, making Gaku even more on edge. It was at this point that the others, mostly Tenn and Ryuunosuke, feared that maybe Gaku was a bit too upset. “Oi.” Tenn said. “I don’t think you yelling aggressively at him is making the situation any better.” Tenn said while looking straight at Gaku. 

The gray-haired man frowned and turned to the younger man. “Ha?” He made a questioning noise while looking slightly offended. Ryuunosuke then reached out and grasped Gaku’s shoulder. “Tenn’s right Gaku. You need to calm down first.” He said. Gaku looked at him, angry at first but soon he did calm down, albeit only a little bit. 

Tsukumo chuckled. “That’s right, listen to what mommy says. Oh right, you can’t anymore.” He then said, not looking the least bit sorry. The moment Gaku heard those words, everything Tenn and Ryuunosuke had done to calm him down had seemingly been in vain. He didn’t say anything, instead he tried to launch himself at Tsukumo, but failed since Ryuunosuke held him back. 

“Okay, now you’re clearly baiting him!” This time it was Riku who spoke up. Tsukumo turned to him and smiled. “Of course I am. I know when to keep going, but I also know when to stop. He’s clearly already made up his mind, so I don’t see any point in playing the part anymore. If it’s a confession you want, then I’ll give you one.” He said. 

“It’s just like you said.” Tsukumo started and turned to look at Gaku again. “I am the leader of what you know as the Tsukumo group, I am the one behind the recent incidents, I am the one who ordered the death of the queen, the death of your mother.” He said with a smirk. “You bastard!” Gaku screamed and tried to launch himself at Tsukumo again but was still held back by Ryuunosuke. 

Tsukumo Ryou then smiled and stood up, catching the others attention. “Well, I can clearly see that my presence is upsetting our dear prince, so I’ll make myself scarce.” He said and slowly started making his way toward the door, however, he apparently hadn’t noticed that Tenn had sneaked off while they were talking, and he was now standing in front of the very door Tsukumo had planned to leave through. “Not so fast.” Tenn said while glaring at him. 

“Did you really think we’d just let you leave after getting a confession? Are you actually stupid?” Tenn asked in disbelief. Tsukumo just smirked. “Not for a second.” He said, after which he turned around and quickly grabbed the person closest to him, who just so happened to be Riku. He let out a yelp as he felt the older man grab his wrist and pull him into his chest. Tsukumo smirked and pulled something out from his coat pocket, it was a tiny knife that he swiftly pressed up against Riku’s neck, making the younger stiffen with fear. 

“Riku!” Iori and Tenn called out in unison, the rest just looked horrified at the scene that was unfolding before their eyes. “Now, now.” Tsukumo started. “Normally, I’d prefer to get someone else to do my dirty work, but desperate times call for desperate measures.” He said while gripping Riku harder, who in return winced in pain. 

Tsukumo kept talking. “I hardly believe I need to explain myself right now. Nanase Tenn, step out of the way and let me leave, or I’ll slit your pretty little sister’s throat.” Tenn stiffened up. “Or should I say little brother? Because that is how it is, isn’t it?” Tsukumo asked. “What? How do you-” Tenn started but was soon interrupted by a laugh from villainous man. 

“Oh, I know more than you think!” Tsukumo exclaimed. “For example,” He continued. “I know who all of you are.” He said while pointing at Iori, Mitsuki, Nagi, Sougo, Tamaki and Yamato. “Then why did you even bother to ask for an introduction?” Gaku asked angrily. Tsukumo rolled his eyes. “I had to play the part, didn’t I? You have to admit, I was rather convincing until you learned the truth.” He said, earning another glare from the Myronian prince. 

“How did you know?” This time it was Nagi asking, he too looked royally pissed off. “It’s really not that difficult to recognize a prince of Pandragora, Rokuya Nagi. I have relations to your father, so I know plenty about you and your little manservant, Osaka Sougo and Yotsuba Tamaki. You’re more famous than you think, Nikaido Yamato. And last but not least we have the Izumi brothers, Mitsuki and Iori, I barely payed attention to your family, until the marriage that is.” Tsukumo explained. 

“Now, where were we?” He then asked. “Ah, right. Let me go or I kill Izumi Riku, which would be a pity, really. He’s so pretty, it’d be a real waste to ruin it.” Tsukumo said with a sly smile as he brought the knife closer to Riku’s throat. The cold metal was now lightly touching Riku’s skin, making the redhead’s breathing more uneven than it was before due to panic. 

“Okay, fine!” Tenn yelled out as he slowly took a few steps away from the door. Tsukumo immediately started walking towards it, while still holding tightly onto Riku. “All you need to do is leave, so let him go.” Tenn then said with pleading eyes. 

“Do I have to? Maybe I’ll keep him for my own…” Tsukumo said creepily, making Riku whimper in his hold. “Don’t you dare! Let go of him!” Iori practically yelled out in anger as he took a few steps forward, however, he stopped when he noticed that Tsukumo Ryou had once again brought the knife closer to Riku’s neck. “Shame, guess I’ll have to return him then. For now.” Tsukumo said. 

He then proceeded with putting the knife back into his pocket, after which he pushed Riku forward hard, so much so that he stumbled to the floor. It only took a few seconds for Iori to crouch down beside him, holding him close. 

“Goodbye.” Tsukumo Ryou said before darting out of the door. Ryuunosuke released Gaku, who immediately took off after Tsukumo. “Damn it!” They could hear Gaku scream from the stairs before he came back inside. “He’s gone.” Was all he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that! I'll be back on Saturday with the next chapter, so look forward to that! I hope I wrote Tsukumo well, he's been a character I was struggling with, but I'm quite happy with how he turned out! ^^ I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thank you all for reading, and thank you for supprting me, giving me kudos and comments etc. It really means a lot! <3


	44. Following His Trail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are messy after their encounter with Tsukumo Ryou, what will the group do next?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new chapter! This one picks up right where the last one ended, so please enjoy it! ^^  
> If you want to find me anywhere else, I'm on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com and on Twitter: @EFagerhag

“Dammit!” They all heard Gaku exclaim from the stairway outside of the apartment before he came stomping back inside. “He got away.” He said angrily. “What do we do now?” Mitsuki questioned, earning an immediate reply from the gray-haired prince. “We follow after him, of course! Like hell I’m going to let that bastard get away with what he has done!”

“Wait a minute!” Tenn shouted and looked up at Gaku. “Riku can’t move yet, we’re staying!” He said stubbornly. Gaku looked behind Tenn, and sure enough, right there on the floor sat Riku surrounded by Iori, Sougo and Nagi, struggling for breath. 

“I get that you’re worried about your brother, but I can’t let Tsukumo Ryou get away, not now that we have his confession!” Gaku yelled back. It was then that Yamato stepped in between the two. 

“Now, now, how about we split up? Ichi and Nanase Tenn can stay and look after Riku while the rest of us follow Tsukumo?” He suggested. Everyone agreed, and soon everyone had left, making it so that the only people left in the small apartment were Tenn, Iori and Riku. 

Riku was sat on the floor, leaning against a wall while trying to calm his breathing down. Iori was sat across from him, one hand stroking his cheek and the other holding onto one of Riku’s hands while trying to calm him down. Tenn immediately joined them and sat down beside his brother. It didn’t take that long for Riku’s breathing to return to normal, as he calmed down, he leaned forward and rested his forehead on Iori’s shoulder. “I’m sorry…” He said quietly. “I’m always just getting in everyone’s way.” He said, choking back tears. 

Iori pulled Riku into his embrace, rocking him back and forth to comfort him. “You know that’s not true. You’re so strong, and what happened just now was not your fault.” He said. “Izumi Iori is right.” Tenn added, making the two look at him. “You’re not getting in the way, the only one who thinks that is you.” Tenn continued. 

Riku nodded and let go of Iori in order to hug his brother instead. Tenn gently ran his hand through Riku’s hair, back and forth reassuringly. “You really need to stop thinking of yourself as a burden to others, I know you’ve thought that way for years now. You grow stronger every day, and if you think that you’re troubling us, forget it, we take care of you because we want to do it, not because we need to. I love you, all of you, and clearly I’m not the only one.” Tenn told Riku, though he looked over to Iori as he said the last part, making the other blush slightly. 

Riku sniffled and rubbed away the tears lingering in his eyes, then he smiled brightly at the other two. “Thank you!” He said happily. Tenn then stood up and sighed. “Normally, I’d tell you to wait here and rest, but you really want to follow the others, don’t you?” He asked while looking at his brother. Riku smiled and laughed awkwardly. “Kind of…” He answered. 

“Let’s go then.” Tenn said. “But! We’re taking it slow, no running, no stressing, and you can't hide it if your condition gets any worse that it is now.” He said sternly while glaring down at Riku, who nodded seriously. Iori smiled at the brothers before standing up and offering a hand to Riku, helping him stand up as well. Riku graciously took it and pulled himself up. “Okay, let’s go find the others!” Riku exclaimed as he walked out of the door. 

Iori quickly followed but was stopped by Tenn the moment Riku was out the door. He looked at Riku’s brother and raised an eyebrow in question. “Thank you.” Tenn said. Iori’s eyes widened in shock. “What?” He asked. “I said,” Tenn started. “Thank you. For taking care of Riku. No matter how much I dislike it, I’m not blind, I can see that he trusts you and cares about you. So, thank you for looking after him, I might have misjudged you when we first met.” Tenn said, and once he was done, he wasted no time in leaving the apartment, and so Iori was left behind, standing taken aback in the now empty room. 

“Iori! Are you coming or what?” Riku yelled from downstairs, snapping Iori out of his stupor. “R-right!” He said as he exited the apartment and joined Tenn and Riku down in street as they started looking for the others. 

The moment Iori, Riku and Tenn found the remaining members of their little company the sun had already completely set. The streets were silent, and the sky was clear, not a single cloud to obstruct the view of the stars and the moon that lit up their surroundings. 

The three had found the others in the royal stables, readying carriages and horses. “What’s going on? Where’s Tsukumo Ryou?” Tenn questioned the moment they had entered. Ryuunosuke turned to them, Gaku apparently being too busy to give Tenn an answer. “He left town, we believe he’s trying to flee the country.” He explained. 

Tenn, Iori and Riku looked at each other before Iori spoke up. “He’s going to Pandragora?” He questioned. Ryuunosuke nodded. “That’s why we’re preparing to go to Port Nezok, to try and find out for certain if he’s crossing the ocean. We leave as soon as everyone is finished preparing, which should only take about another twenty minutes. Are you okay to come along?” Ryuunosuke turned to Riku at the questioned he finished his explanation with. 

Riku smiled at him and nodded. “I feel a lot better, thank you. I am very sorry for causing you guys trouble.” He said, earning a light shove from Tenn. “Hey, we talked about that.” He said while giving Riku a worried gaze. The younger twin only smiled back at his brother. “I know, it’s just courtesy.” He said and Tenn nodded. 

Once he had made sure Riku wasn’t still thinking about blaming himself, Tenn turned back to face Ryuunosuke. “Did you talk to the king? Or is this all just Gaku ignoring his father’s rules again?” He asked. Ryuunosuke sighed and smiled sheepishly “Well, Gaku has not talked to him since we got back, but I did. I went to see him while Gaku and the others looked for Tsukumo, somebody had to tell him what was going on, we made a huge discovery today, after all.” He said. 

Tenn nodded. “What did he say?” He asked. “Well,” Ryuunosuke started. “Let’s just say that I’ve never seen him that angry before, I don’t want to repeat everything that he said, but it’s safe to say that Tsukumo Ryou will not have a pleasant time should he ever come back to see the king again.” He explained. Tenn nodded before allowing the brunette to continue. “He ordered we find him and bring him back, dead or alive.” 

“I see…” Tenn answered. “At least that means that what we’re doing now isn’t illegal, raiding the stables and all.” Ryuunosuke chuckled at Tenn’s comments. “Yeah. To be honest, I think this is the first time Gaku and his father completely agree on something, I’m just a bit sad it has to be something like Tsukumo Ryou’s demise.” The brunette then said sadly. Tenn silently agreed. 

“Does the prince not get along with the king?” Iori cut in. Both Riku, Tenn and Ryuunosuke turned to him with partly shocked and partly worried expressions. Riku quickly covered Iori’s mouth. “Shh! Don’t let Yaotome-san hear you! It’s a kind of… sensitive subject to him?” Riku tried to explain. Iori just looked confused. 

Tenn sighed. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Gaku’s relationship with his father has always been rocky, at best. They have completely different world-views and priorities. It even went so far that the king has threatened to relieve Gaku of his duties as the crown prince before.” He explained. 

Iori was shocked, he had no idea that the state of Myronia’s royalty had been as bad as it apparently was. “Wait, but isn’t Yaotome-san an only child? You mean the king would rather give the throne of Myronia to someone he's not related to, rather than to his own son?” Iori asked. The other three nodded. “Although,” Ryuunosuke started. “In the end, he hasn’t actually taken it away from Gaku, I believe they were just empty threats. But the point is that Gaku and his father never really got along, and it’s best if you don’t address this problem in front of either of them.” He finished. 

Iori nodded, still a bit baffled after that revelation. The Pandragoran royal family had always been loving and supportive, so he hadn’t really expected to find that the Myronian royal family was so different. “Anyway, is there anything else we should know before we leave?” Tenn asked Ryuunosuke, effectively changing the subject. 

“Well, there is one more thing.” The bigger man answered, catching the attention of the other three. “I tried to ask about what Tsukumo did for the king before he had him join our investigation and learned two things. First of all was that Tsukumo asked to help with solving the queen’s murder himself, most likely to keep tabs on us, or maybe even to try and throw us off. Secondly, before he joined us, he was supposed to do a field study and was away from the castle for three months. He was doing this alone, meaning there is no one who can confirm his whereabouts during that period of time.” He explained. 

Iori and Riku looked at each other. “But that means…” Started Iori. “That he could have been in Pandragora at the time of the fire in Northmeir!” Finished Riku. Ryuunosuke chuckled. “Yeah, I knew you guys had some theory about that, while this doesn’t confirm it, it does make it possible.” He said. Iori and Riku nodded and thanked him for sharing this with them. 

Once they were finished getting an explanation, Tenn went over to help Gaku with something while Iori and Riku went over to Mitsuki and the others. They immediately started asking Riku questions about how he was feeling, after which they gave them their own explanation of what had happened since they left the apartment. 

A few minutes later, all of the preparations had been made and the group of ten people quickly left Talin. Their next destination was Port Nezok. 

Due to them being in a rush to follow Tsukumo Ryou, Iori, Riku and everyone else had to travel from Talin to Port Nezok during the middle of the night. They had split up in three different carriages, Gaku, Ryuunosuke and Tenn in the first, Nagi, Yamato, Sougo and Tamaki in the second, and lastly, Riku, Iori and Mitsuki in the third. 

Because it was so late, and a lot had happened that day, most of them spent these hours sleeping. As of right now, they could see Port Nezok in the distance, and it was probably time to wake up those who still slept. Mitsuki, who had woken up about an hour earlier, found that to be rather difficult due to the sight in front of him. 

On the opposite side of the carriage, he had upon waking up found his younger brother and his “wife” Riku asleep side by side. Iori had and arm wrapped around Riku’s shoulders, holding the other boy close, while Riku rested his head on Iori’s shoulder and held onto his free hand with both of his own hands. They both looked so peaceful and content, Mitsuki really didn’t want to wake them up, he wanted them both to stay as happy and calm as they looked in that moment. 

Despite Iori not having told him, he could see that there had been a change in the two’s relationship ever since they reunited after Riku fell into the river. They were closer now than before. He didn’t want to be the kind of brother who pried, or who seemed too nosy when it came to Iori’s relationship, he had wanted to wait until Iori told him himself, but it was getting gradually harder to ignore seeing as the two really weren’t being very subtle about it. 

Mitsuki looked out of the window and saw that the Port was fast approaching. He sighed and leaned forward in order to shake Iori’s arm. “Iori, Riku, time to wake up.” He said. Iori’s face scrunched up and he buried his face in Riku’s hair as he groaned, making Mitsuki chuckle to himself. “Come on, Iori! We’re almost there!” He said, louder this time. Iori turned his head and glared at his brother. “Ugh, fine.” He said, but then he realized what kind of position his brother had seen him in and quickly felt his own face flush bright red. Mitsuki laughed out loud at this. 

Due to Mitsuki’s laugh, Riku startled awake. “What?” He questioned as he blinked and tried to take in his surroundings. He yawned and rubbed his eyes before looking up at Iori, smiling and then placing his head back on the raven-haired boy’s shoulder, intensifying his blush. “Riku! Come on, you can’t sleep anymore.” He said, trying to gently push the redhead off of him, not because he wanted him further away, but because his brother’s curious gaze was making him awfully self-conscious. 

“I am awake!” Riku exclaimed as he held onto Iori tighter and refused to move. After another few seconds, Iori sighed and gave up, letting Riku stay where he was, although he did check to see if he was still awake every other minute. 

Soon, they had reached their destination. Everyone left the carriages, some looking more tired than others. Iori still had an arm wrapped around Riku, making sure the other stayed warm in the chilly morning breeze. The moment they had exited the carriages, the sun had started to rise along the horizon. “Well,” Gaku started. “Let’s get going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this update! I'll once again be back on Wednesday as usual, so look forward to that! ^^ Thank you all for supporting me by leaving kudos and comments, etc! <3<3


	45. Splitting up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've reached Port Nezok and the search for Tsukumo Ryou, who's on the run, continues. What they find out will lead to the newly formed group to go their seperate ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for a new update! I hope you all are good, and that you're looking forward to this new chapter! With that said, let's get on to it, shall we? If you have any questions or just want to talk, you can find me either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Iori, Riku as well as all the others were walking through the streets of Port Nezok and had just now reached the harbor. Since it was still rather early in the morning, there weren’t that many people out and about, and most of them were fishermen readying their boats. There were supposed to be royal guards in the harbor, in order to control everyone who left and arrived by boat. Gaku wasted no time in trying to find them so that he could question them about whether or not Tsukumo Ryou had left by boat from here.

They found them just a few minutes later and immediately started questioning them. “Excuse me!” Ryuunosuke called out as they all walked up to the two guards stationed near one of the piers. They looked up as they were addressed and immediately perked up when they noticed just who was approaching them. “Your highness!” They exclaimed, saluting Gaku as they did. 

The prince nodded at the two guards and started asking the questions. “We’re looking for someone, and we think he might be trying to cross the Great Sea, thus we wanted to check with you whether or not he’s already done so. His name is Tsukumo Ryou and he originally worked for my father, after which he joined my investigation unit. He’s not part of it anymore, I don’t really have time to explain, but let’s just say that he’s been declared an enemy to the kingdom of Myronia. He’s around thirty years old, quite tall, pale skin, dark hair, thin brown eyes, average build. Does any of this sound familiar?” 

Both guards looked a bit tired, most likely from having worked the nightshift, but answered their questions anyway. “Well, we don’t know anything about a Tsukumo Ryou specifically , but we did see someone board a ship this morning who fits your description quite well, it could be him, but it could also be someone else… He acted like just another worker, and no one around him acted suspiciously so we just let them pass. They were delivering goods to Pandragora and left the harbor a little over three hours ago. The one in charge of that particular dispatchment should still be around since he had more work to do here today, we could take you to him if you’d like, he probably knows more than we do.” One of them explained. 

Gaku and Ryuunosuke both nodded and thanked them, after which they took them up on their offer. It only took them a few minutes to find the man who had presumably been in charge of the transfer of goods between the two countries that had taken place earlier that morning. They talked for a bit and properly explained the situation to the man, who later confirmed that there had been no man similar to Tsukumo Ryou in his crew, meaning the man who had boarded the ship earlier was most likely the one they were looking for. 

They thanked him and went off to discuss what to do now. “So,” Tenn started. “I believe we have two options from here on out. We either assume that it really was Tsukumo Ryou who boarded the ship to Pandragora, because we don’t actually know this for certain, and follow him, or we return to Talin and report to the king before making our final decision.” He stated. 

Ryuunosuke nodded. “You’re right, we don’t want to lose him, which we will probably do if we don’t follow him now, but then again, if we’re mistaken, and Tsukumo is still here in Myronia, then it would be a huge mistake to leave now.” He said. 

Gaku looked awfully restless where he stood off to the side, he wanted nothing more than to follow the man who killed his mother, but he too was torn on where to go from here on out. Then Nagi spoke up. “Then how about we split up?” He suggested, catching all of their attentions. “What do you mean?” Gaku questioned him. 

Nagi smiled at the other prince as he explained further. “Well, we really should get back to Pandragora soon anyway, we could say we’re just going back home and once we’re ashore, we’ll look into whether or not Tsukumo Ryou really did cross the sea and try to find him. In the meantime, you stay here, contact the king and do a more in-depth investigation of his whereabouts from this side. We’ll keep in touch, either side will write if they find anything and then the others can act based on that information.” Nagi suggested. 

Gaku looked as if he was in deep thought for a while before nodding, albeit with a reluctant expression on his face. “Fine, as much as I hate leaving this to others, I’ll take you up on that offer. We’ll do what we can from our end for now, but the moment you learn whether or not he’s in Pandragora, you must let us know! We’ll cross the sea as soon as we can.” He said. Nagi nodded. “Then I believe we have an agreement.” 

About an hour had passed and a ship was being readied for Nagi, Yamato, Sougo, Tamaki, Mitsuki, Iori and Riku’s return to Pandragora. Everything for their departure would be finished in just a couple of minutes, they would soon need to say goodbye, at least for now, to Myronia and those who stayed behind. 

For every passing minute, Riku became more and more aware of one fact. He would have to leave Tenn. Again. He sighed and decided to go and find his brother, wanting to talk to him for a bit before they left. He gave Iori, who was standing beside him, a reassuring smile before walking off. Iori guessed where the other was going, but still kept his eyes on him, just in case. 

It didn’t take Riku very long to find Tenn, his brother was helping out with readying the ship on the deck. “Tenn-nii!” He called out, getting the other’s attention. Tenn looked down at Riku and smiled bitterly, understanding what Riku wanted without the redhead having to say anything. He told Gaku and Ryuunosuke that he’d take a little break, and at first, they looked at him a bit confused, but understood the moment they saw who he was walking towards. 

Riku and Tenn walked out on one of the piers so that they could talk a bit more privately, since there was no one else out there. “So…” Riku started, looking at Tenn. Tenn just smiled at him. “Are you going to be okay?” He asked, ever the protective brother. Riku smiled back. “I will, it’s not like the last time we parted ways, I have people I feel comfortable to be around now. I have people who make me feel safe.” Riku said. 

Tenn rolled his eyes before looking out over the ocean waves. “You mean you’ve got Izumi Iori now.” He corrected, making his younger brother blush and look down shyly. “Tenn-nii, I-” Riku started, but his brother immediately interrupted him. “It’s fine, really. I didn’t mean to sound so disapproving.” He started, then he sighed before continuing. “I know you Riku, sometimes I think I know you better than I know myself. I can see how much he means to you, and I’m not going to deny you that happiness.” He said. 

Riku smiled brightly, tears welling up in his eyes as he hugged his brother tightly. “Thank you, Tenn-nii!” He said. Tenn of course hugged his brother back, taking in his warmth before he left again. Riku pulled away slightly, but still stayed close to Tenn. “I’m really going to miss you, you know that, right?” He said. 

Tenn nodded and brought a hand up to caress one of Riku’s cheeks. “I know, and I’ll miss you too. But we’ll meet again soon.” He said, mostly to assure himself of this. Riku smiled and nodded. “You have to promise me you’ll be careful though.” Tenn then said sternly. “And if anything happens, if you are ever in trouble, let me know and I’ll come help you out.” He finished. 

Riku laughed at the other. “Of course you would.” He answered him. Tenn gave him a face, which confused Riku at first. “You really have to promise.” Tenn then said, making Riku understand that he had forgotten to do that. “Oh, right. I promise I will let you know if I need help! Is that okay?” Riku said, making Tenn nod. 

“Oi! The ship is ready for departure!” They heard Gaku yell from a distance, most likely to the two of them. Riku and Tenn looked at each other before they embraced again, making sure to tell the other how much they meant before saying their goodbyes. They then walked back to the others, Riku joined Iori and the rest and then they all bid each other farewell and boarded the ship. As the ship left the harbor, Riku stood by the railing, watching his brother shrink away in the distance once more. 

It had been about two hours since they left Port Nezok and Iori was trying to find Riku. The moment you could no longer see Myronia along the horizon, the redhead had gone below deck. Iori was a bit worried that the other was sad about leaving his brother behind, or that maybe he wasn’t feeling well yet. 

Thus, Iori descended below deck to find Riku. It didn’t take very long as the ship wasn’t all that big. Iori soon found him inside one of the smaller cabins, the room only had a single bed and a small table. At the sound of the door opening, Riku turned his head up and smiled once he saw that it was Iori who had entered. Iori walked over and sat down on the bed beside Riku, gently wrapping an arm around the other’s shoulders and pulling him closer. Riku sighed and leaned his head on Iori’s shoulder, taking in his comforting warmth. 

“Are you okay?” Iori asked. “I’m fine.” Riku reassured him. Iori nodded but kept checking with him anyway. “Do you miss your brother?” He asked this time, and Riku was silent for a bit longer before answering. “I do, but not as much as I thought I would.” He started before sitting up more properly and facing Iori. “Because I have you now, I don’t need to feel lonely whenever I’m not with Tenn-nii anymore! Thank you, Iori!” He said with a gentle smile on his face and Iori’s heart melted at the sight. 

A small blush spread across the raven-haired boys face and he reached out to cup the redhead’s cheeks in his hand. Riku stiffened at first when he felt Iori touch his face, but soon relaxed into his touch. “You don’t need to thank me, I’m with you now because I want to. I won’t let you feel lonely ever again.” Iori told Riku, who nodded and smiled in reply. 

They both sat there on the bed, looking into each other’s eyes and smiling fondly. Before they noticed it, they had both subconsciously started moving closer to each other, and the moment they noticed how close they were they stopped, they didn’t pull away, but they didn’t move any closer either. Riku let out a small gasp and flushed bright red while Iori gulped down his nerves before looking deeply into Riku’s eyes. “Can I kiss you?” He asked. 

They actually hadn’t kissed since that night they talked about their feelings for each other, at least not on the lips. There had been some forehead or cheek kisses, but no proper kisses so both of them felt both nervous and a bit excited at the moment. Riku tried to relax as he nodded, saying it was okay for Iori to keep going. 

Once he had the confirmation that it was okay, Iori closed the distance between them and lightly covered Riku’s lips with his own. He could feel Riku gasp against his lips as they made contact, after which the redhead started responding to the kiss. Riku tilted his head to the side in order to give Iori better access and then he reached a hand up to rest at the back of Iori’s head, lightly running his fingers through his soft, black locks while his other hand held onto his upper arm. 

The two soon pulled apart slowly, only to gaze into each other's eyes. They didn’t say anything this time, instead they just pulled each other closer again, not wanting to be separated for even a second. This time, the kiss was a bit heavier, they both started feeling more comfortable and willing to explore a bit more. Iori still had one hand holding Riku’s face, but the other had wandered down to wrap securely around the other’s waist, pulling him even closer to himself. 

Their kiss was faster and more passionate than before, but it was also just as sweet. Neither boy had been with anyone else before this, so it was all new to them both, but they couldn’t help but feel themselves getting addicted to the feeling of being connected to the other like this. They stayed like that for a while, lips locked and embracing one another, just enjoying the others company. 

Iori placed one last kiss on Riku’s lips before pulling away. Both boys were breathing a bit heavier than they had been before and their lips had gotten a bit swollen. Riku smiled and brought both of his hands up to Iori’s face, caressing his lips lightly with the pad of his thumb while smiling. Iori smiled back and hugged the other close, pressing his lips to Riku’s forehead as he did. 

“I love you.” He whispered. Riku smiled brightly, though Iori couldn’t see it right now as Riku had his head buried in the crook between Iori’s neck and shoulder. “I love you too.” Riku whispered back, making Iori feel all warm inside. 

They stayed like that for a long time, both feeling perfectly content and happy being together now. They felt as if nothing bad could happen as long as they just stayed together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know about you guys, but I live for those sweet ioriku moments ^^ I'll be back on Saturday, and then it's finally time for the boys to return to Pandragora, so look forward to that! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you so much for showing your support by leaving kudos, comments or in other way, it means the world to me! <3<3<3


	46. Back in Pandragora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys arrive in Pandragora and immediately start searching for Tsukumo Ryou.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new chapter, and this time we leave Myronia behind and return to Pandragora! I hope that you will all enjoy this chapter, so without further ado, let's get on with it! If you have any questions or if you want to talk to me, you can either find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

”Ahh! It feels so nice to finally be back!” Tamaki exclaimed with his arms and hands outstretched into the air once he got off the ship and onto the streets of Port Danix. Sougo walked up to him. “It’s great that you’re in such a good mood, Tamaki-kun, but we still have work to do, remember? We need to try and find Tsukumo Ryou.” He said.

Tamaki pouted at the older man by his side. “I know that! But I’m still happy about being back in Pandragora! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Myronia, but Pandragora is my home.” He said. Sougo smiled fondly at him as they walked over to where the others were unloading their baggage from the ship. 

They had soon finished and then they all made sure to thank the group of sailors that had taken them across the sea. They picked up their baggage and started walking away from the harbor and into the city. “Well, we’re officially back in Pandragora, what do we do now?” Mitsuki asked as he turned to look at the others. 

“Tsukumo wasn’t that far ahead of us, unless he has a specific place he’s headed towards, I find it probable that he’s still here in Port Danix, granted he actually did cross the ocean of course. I think the best course of action right now is to get some rooms at an inn or a hotel, leave our stuff there and look around town, asking around to see if anyone knows something.” Iori suggested. The others nodded and Nagi even winked at him and gave him a thumbs up while saying, “Good idea!” 

They then walked over to the nearest inn, where they booked three rooms for the night, one for Sougo and Tamaki, one for Nagi, Yamato and Mitsuki, and one for Iori and Riku. Once they were all set up, they left the inn and headed out into the streets. “Should we all go together, or should we split up?” Sougo asked. 

“Well…” Yamato started. They could all see both positive and negative effects of doing either of these things. “We’ll cover more ground if we split up, but if we actually run into Tsukumo, it’s best to be a few people, if our last encounter is anything to go by.” Yamato continued to explain. Everyone nodded while considering their options. 

“I think we should split up!” Riku soon exclaimed, gaining the attention of everyone else around them. “I mean, I don’t think we should all go alone, but maybe we could split up into two groups? That way we’ll still be a few if we find him, but we’re also not moving around as only one big group.” He elaborated. Iori smiled at the redhead and nodded. “I think that sounds good.” He said, and the others agreed one by one. 

“Okay!” Nagi exclaimed. “I shall go with Mitsuki, Iori and Riku! Yamato, Sougo and Tamaki, you make up the other group!” The Pandragoran prince cheerfully declared. The others smiled and agreed to those groups, having Nagi simply divide them like that saved them the time it would have taken to discuss the groups themselves anyway, so they were actually really grateful that he had done that. 

The two groups split up and decided to meet back at the inn around eight that evening to discuss their search as well as to eat some dinner. Tamaki, Sougo and Yamato headed east, while Mitsuki, Nagi, Iori and Riku headed west. 

Nagi led the way, Mitsuki walking beside him and Iori and Riku walking a little bit behind the two. After just a few minutes of walking, Riku had reached down and taken ahold of Iori’s hand. Iori looked at him and was met with one of the brightest, most blinding smiles ever. He turned to look the other way, not sure if his heart could take the sight before him. How come Riku’s smile always threw him off? Why did it always mess with his emotions? It just wasn’t fair, he’d end up having a heart attack at this rate. Even so, he still turned back around and gave Riku a smile of his own, satisfying the redhead who started humming a song as they kept walking. 

The group had walked around for about two hours, making occasional stops to ask the people who were out and about on the streets if they had heard or seen anything about Tsukumo Ryou. Sadly, no one seemed to know anything, and they had currently stopped to take a few minutes of rest in a small park before continuing. They were all sat down on a park bench in front of a fountain, Mitsuki in one end, followed by Nagi, then Riku and lastly Iori at the other end. 

“So…” Nagi started, wanting to make some sort of conversation as they rested. He looked over at Riku and Iori with a smile that made Riku smile back while both Iori and Mitsuki feared what would come next. They knew that whenever Nagi smiled like that he would either start talking about something utterly ridiculous, or something that would make someone there feel embarrassed. This time it was the latter. “How long have you two known you love each other?” He asked happily, the question clearly directed at Iori and Riku. 

Iori's mouth hung open at the bold question and Riku’s face flushed red as he hadn’t been expecting the conversation to be steered in that direction. “E-eh?” Riku made a questioning noise while Iori sighed and covered his face with his hands. “Rokuya-san, why must you ask things like that out of nowhere?” He complained. Mitsuki looked over at his brother with a sympathetic smile. He too wanted to know, so he was kind of glad Nagi had asked, but he also felt a bit bad for Iori, since he had been put on the spot, and Mitsuki knew how uncomfortable that made Iori feel. 

“Well, other than the first time I saw you two together, you’ve always seemed really close. Then I learned Riku was a boy, and at first that made me think that you two were simply good friends, but when I thought about it more I started thinking that that wasn't the case at all... And besides, you seemed to be closer than friends even before, especially while we were up in the mountains, so I thought that you must surely have been more than friends by then. And then it seems like you’ve grown even closer recently, so I was just kind of curious is all.” He explained cheerfully, as if it wasn’t at all an awkward or personal thing to talk about. 

“T-that’s none of your business!” Iori exclaimed, still feeling flustered about the situation. Riku just sat and looked down at his own lap, his face still a bright shade of scarlet. “Actually,” Mitsuki interrupted. “I was kind of wondering the same thing.” He said sheepishly. Iori looked at his brother, completely horrified. “Nii-san!” He said with and accusatory tone. 

“What? You talked to me about liking Riku before, but that you weren’t sure if he reciprocated. I was curious what ended up happening with that situation, since the two of you look a lot closer now than you did earlier, despite it only having been a few days since we talked about it.” Mitsuki said. This got Riku to react as he sat up straighter and looked over at Iori. “Wait, you didn’t think I’d reciprocate? Why wouldn’t I? I honestly felt a bit stupid that it took me so long to realize how I felt, I thought you must have already had it all figured out by then, since you’re smart and observant and stuff…” He said quietly. 

“W-well, I told you that I’ve never done this before… How was I supposed to know?” He asked shyly, making Riku smile and grab his hand again, squeezing it reassuringly. Iori smiled back, and for a moment, they had completely forgotten about the other two people currently with them. 

“Aww, you two are so cute together! It fills my heart with warmth to see you!” Nagi exclaimed dramatically, pulling the two of them out of their own world and back to reality. Once again, both of their faces turned into a bright red color, making Mitsuki laugh at them. “So, you really did confess?” He asked happily. Iori and Riku both nodded shyly. 

Mitsuki smiled and stood up, then he walked over until he was stood right in front of Iori and Riku. The two looked up at him, partly bashful, and partly confused as to what he was doing. Then, Mitsuki grinned and pulled the two into a hug. “I’m so happy for you! Congratulations!” He said, making both Iori and Riku smile and return the hug. 

“Me too! Let me join you!” Nagi then exclaimed as he pulled the other three into a bone-crushing hug of his own, making them wince in pain at the sudden pressure he added. “N-Nagi! Can’t… breath…” Mitsuki soon managed to get out, making the blonde let them go. “Oh!” He said as he looked down at them apologetically. Then they all broke out into laughter. 

The rest of the day passed by pretty quickly and both groups were soon back in front of the inn. They decided on a restaurant and went inside, placed their orders and then sat down at a table in the back in order to discuss how their respective search had gone. 

“So, did your group find anything on Tsukumo?” Yamato was the first to ask. Iori and Riku both shook their heads as Mitsuki started explaining. “We found absolutely nothing. Nil. Nada. No one knew anything about the guy, there didn’t even seem to be anyone who recognized the Tsukumo name… Oi, Yamato, didn’t you say that they were famous or something?” He questioned the bespectacled man across from him. 

Yamato frowned. “I honestly thought they were more well known than they apparently are, turns out I was wrong in that aspect. Anyway, so you found nothing at all?” He wanted to confirm. “Like Mitsuki said,” Nagi started. “We didn’t find any clue about him.” Yamato, Sougo and Tamaki nodded in understanding. “What about you guys?” Did you find anything?” Riku asked, sounding more cheerful than he felt in order to try and keep everyone’s spirits up. 

“Well,” Sougo started. “We did check out the harbor more closely, and we did manage to find the ship that supposedly carried Tsukumo across the sea, but no trace of the man himself. We were, however, able to confirm that the man we assume is Tsukumo did get off the boat, and he has since not been seen in the harbor. Meaning, he’s still in Pandragora, and probably not too far away.” He explained. 

“But you don’t know whether that man is actually Tsukumo Ryou, is that right? We’re still only assuming that it’s him?” Iori asked. Sougo nodded. “That’s right, we still don’t have a name, and neither of us have seen the man in question, at least not that we are aware of. We know he came here, but we don’t know if it’s actually our man.” He confirmed, making the others all look down at the table in thought. 

At that moment, their food arrived, they all thanked the waiter before digging in. “What do we do now then?” Yamato asked, his mouth full of food, earning him a light punch on the arm from Mitsuki. “Well, there’s not really much we can do if we don’t find any information on this guy, we’ll just have to be persistent and keep looking. Maybe we can keep going for another two hours before calling it a night? Then we’ll have to continue tomorrow.” Nagi stated and the others all agreed with him. 

They soon finished their food, after which they once again split up, in the same groups as before, to keep looking. Again, they came back to the inn later with no new information. They were all tired, and so they decided to call it a night and continue looking the next day. 

Panting, Riku sat himself up in the bed. It was still dark out, so he guessed it was still the middle of the night and he had just woken up from a nightmare. He couldn’t remember what it had been about, but he still felt a bit shaken up. Riku looked down at Iori who was laying beside him in the bed, still sound asleep. 

Riku couldn’t help but smile as he observed Iori’s unguarded sleeping face, he looked very handsome like that. Not that he wasn’t handsome usually, it was just nice to see his face without any tension for once. Riku reached out and lightly stroked his cheek, smiling to himself all the while. For a minute, he considered waking him and ask for cuddles to calm down but seeing him sleep so peacefully made Riku change his mind. He knew Iori must have been stressed out recently, with everything going on around them, so he didn’t want to ruin it now that it looked like he was actually able to get some decent sleep for once. Especially not when he thought about how he himself was probably a big contributor to Iori's stress. 

Riku slowly and carefully leaned over to kiss Iori’s cheek before he quietly started getting out of the bed. He thought that maybe getting some fresh air would help him calm down before he went back to bed. He grabbed a coat and wrapped it around himself, since he was only wearing a thin nightgown he’d need the warmth that the coat provided, then he put on his shoes before walking over to the door, opening it as silently as he could, and exited the room. 

He pulled the hood of his coat up over his head, since he remembered that he had taken his wig off before going to bed yesterday, just in case someone who was familiar with the Izumi family walked by. He walked out of the inn and stood in the middle of the street while looking up at the sky. It was chilly out, but the sky was clear, so he could clearly see the stars and the moon. He smiled up at them while wrapping his coat tighter around his frame, realizing it was a lot colder than he had anticipated. He probably shouldn’t stay out here for too long. 

He was just about to go back inside when he thought he heard something. It sounded like something falling over. Riku turned around, it was a bit hard to see since it was so dark, but he could somehow make out the shape of a person crouching down on the ground in front of some barrels that had fallen over. The person was groaning and didn’t seem to feel very well. 

Riku probably should have felt alarmed by all of this, but his first thought was that maybe they were sick or had gotten awfully drunk and needed some help. He walked over to the stranger and crouched down before them, he could now tell that it was an older man, he didn’t recognize him at all, but he still thought he should help. “Excuse me? Are you okay sir? Do you need any help?” He asked kindly. 

“Your name?” The man asked, confusing Riku. “What?” He asked. The man groaned and grabbed his stomach as if he was in pain. “What is your name?” He managed to get out through gritted teeth. Riku wasn’t sure why the strange man wanted to know his name, but he supposed it couldn’t hurt. “My name is Riku, Izumi Riku. Now, is there anything I can help you with?” He asked in concern as he reached out and lightly grabbed the older man’s shoulder. 

“Let me tell you something, Izumi Riku.” The man said, still looking down on the ground. Riku nodded and looked down on him in concern. The man then looked up and grinned at Riku. “You really should be more careful when wandering around alone in the dark.” He said before reaching out and grabbed Riku’s wrist, pulling him into his own chest. 

Riku winced as he made contact with the other, the man’s grip on his wrist hurt and Riku felt panic settle in. He opened his mouth to scream for help, but it was soon covered with a wet cloth that smelled strongly of some unknown substance. It only took a few minutes before his vision started blurring, after which he lost all strength in his body and finally passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG I AM (once again) SO SORRY RIKU!!! And I totally didn't add a bunch of sweet and cute moments this chapter and last chapter only to separate and hurt our babies now... Not at all... Maybe... Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you're looking forward to the next! I will be back on Wednesday as usual, so I'll se you all then! ^^ Thank you so much for supporting me and this story, thank you for leaving kudos and comments, for bookmarking this story, or for sending me messages! <3


	47. Kidnapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori wakes up to an empty bed and discovers that something horrible has happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I am once again so sorry for hurting Iori and Riku so much! (But then again, am I really?) Secondly, I hope you enjoy this update!  
> If you wanna talk or something, you can find me either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Iori groaned as the light from the sun hit him right in the face, rudely waking him up from his slumber. It had been awhile since he last slept so well, so he wasn’t apreciating the sunlight very much at the moment. He rolled over in bed, hoping to avoid the offending light source, only to be met with the cold, empty space beside him where there should have been another person.

Iori frowned and slowly opened his eyes, then he sighed and sat up in the bed, rubbing the sleep out of his tired eyes in order to wake himself up some more. He looked down at the bed beside him and, sure enough, it was empty, lacking a certain redhead. He looked around the room and still there was no sign of Riku. He must have woken up already, and judging from the way the mattress was so cold, he had most likely been up for quite a while. 

“Riku?” Iori called out, sadly he got no answer. He sighed. Why hadn’t Riku woken him up? Well, to be fair, Iori knew that Riku was aware of the fact that Iori hadn’t slept very well recently, so he had probably let him sleep in consideration of that. For a moment, Iori considered going back to sleep, but he soon decided that he should probably get up and try and find Riku and the others, after all, he had seemingly slept until a lot later than he usually would. The others might be wondering where he was by now. 

He shuffled to the end of the bed and stood up, however, he ended up standing a bit too quickly which made his vision blurry as blood rushed to his head. He grabbed the bedside table and waited for it to calm down before he sighed and opened the curtains, filling the room with the same sunlight he had previously cursed. 

Iori walked back to where he had slept and made the bed, even though he technically didn’t need to, the staff would have come and done it later in the day. Still, he had a habit of always making the bed in the morning, whether the bed he had slept in was his own or not. 

Once he was finished with that, he headed into the bathroom in order to take a short shower before heading down. He stepped in under the running water and let the warm water relax his tense muscles. He rinsed his body before stepping out and drying his body thoroughly. He then left the bathroom and walked back into the bedroom. 

Once back in there, Iori walked over to the wardrobe and picked out a pair of pants, a shirt and a coat to wear over the shirt. He put on all of his clothes before he went to grab his boots and put those on as well. Iori took one final look around the room, checking to see if there was anything more that needed to be done before he left for the day. Concluding that there was not anything more that needed to be done, Iori grabbed the keys to the room, walked out and locked the door, and then headed downstairs to try and find the rest of the group. 

When he got down there, Iori noted that the lobby of the inn was completely empty, there wasn’t even an employee behind the counter. He remembered there being a canteen down the hall, so that is where he decided to go next. He opened the door leading to the canteen, and in there he did find the ones he had been looking for, or at least most of them. At one of the tables sat Mitsuki, Nagi, Yamato, Sougo and Tamaki, but there was still no sign of Riku. Iori frowned upon seeing this, where had the other gone? 

“Ah, Iori! Good morning!” Mitsuki called out to Iori in a greeting. Iori smiled and waved at his older brother while walking over. “Good morning, Nii-san, Rokuya-san, Nikaido-san, Osaka-san, Yotsuba-san.” He greeted as he sat down at their table, Mitsuki then shoved some bread and some butter his way, which Iori deeply appreciated as he was feeling quite hungry. 

“Iorin, where’s Ricchan? Is he still sleeping?” Tamaki asked as he turned to Iori. Iori frowned. “I was just going to ask you the same thing. The room was empty when I woke up, you guys haven’t seen him?” He asked, now sounding a bit worried. The rest looked at each other before they all shook their heads, it seemed none of them had seen Riku that morning. 

“Maybe he took a walk? The weather is pretty nice this morning, after all.” Nagi kindly suggested. “Yeah, maybe he did…” Iori answered, although he both looked and sounded unconvinced as he said this, and everyone noticed. Mitsuki smiled and patted Iori’s arm. “Don’t worry too much, I’m sure he’s fine, he’s shown before that he can take care of himself.” He said reassuringly. Iori smiled and nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Thank you, Nii-san.” Iori thanked his brother. 

Then they all continued eating in silence, although it seemed like everyone had started eating a bit faster the moment they realized that they didn’t know Riku’s whereabouts. They were all a bit worried, but they didn’t really want to address those worries, after all, they all wanted what Nagi and Mitsuki said to be true. Iori was telling himself that everything was fine, but ever since he had entered the canteen and seen that Riku wasn’t there, a bad feeling had settled itself in the bottom of his stomach. This bad feeling had only gotten worse once he learned that none of the others had seen Riku either. He tried to calm down as he once again repeated that everything would be fine to himself. 

Soon, they were all finished eating, and thus they decided to head out. They left the canteen and walked back to the lobby, and that’s when Sougo got an idea. “Hey, if Riku went out, shouldn’t the receptionist know? We can ask them.” He exclaimed, and the others agreed. At least until Iori spoke. “I hope so, but when I got down earlier, there was no one there. It’s possible there wasn’t anyone there when he left either, if he left that is.” He said. 

“Well, it won’t hurt to ask.” Yamato said. Iori nodded and then they all walked up to the reception desk and rang the bell, thus calling for the receptionist. A few seconds later, a young woman walked up to them. “Yes? What can I help you with?” She asked kindly. 

“Well, we can’t seem to find a member of our company, the girl with red hair, if you can remember her. We just wanted to ask if you’ve seen her leave the inn this morning?” Iori asked. The woman thought for a while. “That girl, what was her name again?” She then asked. “Izumi Riku.” Iori quickly replied. The moment he said her name, it was almost as if a lightbulb appeared above the young woman’s head. 

“Ah, that’s right! Which one of you is Izumi Iori? I have a message for him.” She said. Iori let her know that it was him, after which she held out a small note. “Early this morning, a man I’ve never really seen before came in here and gave me this note, telling me to make sure it was delivered to an ‘Izumi Iori’ on behalf of Izumi Riku. It must have been a few hours ago by now.” She explained. 

By now, Iori felt very worried. A strange man had left a note from Riku to Iori? Which man? And how did Riku know them? And the note had been delivered hours ago? Just how long had Riku actually been missing? Needless to say, Iori had a really bad feeling about this. Still, he folded open the note and started reading. 

_Dear Izumi Iori._

_I believe you are missing something, right? Your lovely “wife”, that is. I just felt like I should let you know that I had an acquaintance of mine escort him to me, as well as that he is safe. For now, at least. I intend to keep him for a couple of days, so don’t bother going to look for him. I simply need him as… Insurance? If everything goes my way, I promise that I shall return him to you in one piece when the time is right. You will hear from me again._

_Yours truly,_  
_Tsukumo Ryou._

Iori couldn’t believe what he was reading, had Tsukumo Ryou really kidnapped Riku? He felt both angry and scared, angry with himself for not looking after Riku better, angry at Tsukumo for what he had done, and scared that something horrible had or would happen to Riku. “Sir?” The young woman behind the reception desk asked. “Iori? What’s wrong?” Mitsuki then asked as he walked up to Iori and grabbed his shoulder. 

Iori looked down at the floor and crumpled the note in his hand in frustration. “It’s Tsukumo Ryou.” He said quietly, the volume was just above a whisper. “What did you say?” Mitsuki asked, though Iori couldn’t tell if he had asked in disbelief or if he really just hadn’t heard him. “It’s Tsukumo Ryou, he took Riku.” He said, this time loud enough for everyone to hear. 

The first thing Riku noticed once he woke up was the pounding in his head, it made concentrating on anything else a bit difficult. The second thing he noticed was that he had absolutely no idea where he was. The room he currently occupied was dark and the only things he could make out was that he was currently laid down on a bed. Soon however, he also noticed that there was a desk and a chair across the room from where he was, there was a single candle stood on the desk, which seemed to be the only source of light in the room, and the last thing he noticed was that the walls, ceiling and floor all seemed to be made out of stone and that the only way out was a big, metallic door along one of the walls. 

Riku was confused to say the least, he had trouble remembering what had happened in order for him to get here. He was going to reach up and rub his tired eyes, but this was when he noticed the third thing, that he couldn’t move his arms. It was at this point when he started to panic, he tried to sit up, only to realize that both his hands were tied to the bedpost above his head, hindering him from doing so. He looked around frantically, but still couldn’t see anything other than what he had seen when inspecting the room for the first time. 

“Help! Somebody! Help me!” He yelled out, hoping that someone was nearby, and that, preferably, that someone would be someone he knew and trusted. However, he did not get that lucky. Someone did hear him, but whoever it was didn’t seem very likely to help him anytime soon. They simply banged on the door and yelled at him. “Shut up! You’re too noisy!” The man on the other side of the door angrily yelled at Riku, who was now getting really scared. 

A few minutes passed, and then the door opened to reveal an older man with pale skin, white hair and sharp, purple eyes. Riku recognized him instantly. “You’re Osaka Soushi…” He said, making the other smirk. “I see you remember me, not that it really matters. I’m not the one who’s keeping you here, I was simply tasked with bringing you to this place, so I had one of my employees take care of that.” He said. And that’s when Riku remembered what had happened, the man he had been meaning to help must have been the employee the older man was talking about. 

Riku gulped. “Then who is keeping me here?” He asked carefully. And just as he did, another man stepped out from behind Sougo’s father, a man Riku would recognize instantly. Riku took a deep, yet shaky breath to try and calm himself down so that he wouldn’t suddenly get an attack. “I am.” The man said, and the man was none other than the one they had been searching for, the one they hadn’t even been certain was actually in Pandragora. It was Tsukumo Ryou.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! I hope you liked this chapter, even if not that much happened. This, as well as the next two chapters (I think? If I remember correctly) is basically just leading up to the final arc of this story, so just bare with me for a while so that I can get a proper setting for the finale! Anyway, thank you for reading and I'll be back on Saturday with the next chapter, in which we might say hello to our Myronian friends again! ;)  
> Also, thank you so much to everyone who leaves kudos or comments, or to those who support me in any other way, it's very much appreciated! <3<3


	48. His Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukumo Ryou reveals his plans to Riku and a new alliance is formed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned with a new chapter! This chapter is a part of the chapters leading up to the final arc of this story, which is both really exciting and sad for me. I hope you will enjoy this chapter!  
> If you want to ask something, or just talk, you can either find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Riku’s eyes widened and his breathing picked up once he saw just who had entered the room. “Tsukumo Ryou…” He said in a whisper as he tried his best to calm down and control his breathing, not wanting to show the others in the room just how scared he actually was.

Tsukumo chuckled. “We meet again, Izumi Riku.” He started, then he turned around to address the third man in the room, Osaka Soushi. “Leave us.” He said sternly. Soushi nodded and promptly left the room, closing and locking the door behind him. 

Now that they were alone, Riku became even more aware of just how frightened he truly was of the other man, but he still didn’t want Tsukumo Ryou to see this, he didn’t want to appear weak in front of the older man. Riku just hoped and prayed that it didn’t show on his face how scared he really felt at the moment. Tsukumo smirked and started walking closer to the bed, the then pulled out the chair that was stood in front of the desk and placed it right in front of the redhead on the bed before sitting himself down on said chair. 

Riku then realized how trapped he really was in his current situation, the only exit to the room was the door that Osaka Soushi and Tsukumo Ryou had come from, the same door that was now locked. His hands were also tightly tied to the bed, and to top it all off, he was still feeling awfully drowsy and dizzy from having been drugged before he was taken to the room. No matter how much he wanted to, he probably wouldn’t be able to fight back if Tsukumo Ryou decided to try something. 

Riku mustered all of his strength and glared at Tsukumo. “What do you want with me?” He asked, relieved that he didn’t stutter out of fear. Tsukumo chuckled and rolled his eyes, then he leaned forward and smirked at the redhead. “You really made a mess of my plans, did you know that? I did some digging into how you found me out, and I believe it’s all because of you.” He said. 

Riku gulped. “I think you’re giving me too much credit.” He answered. Tsukumo shook his head, still smiling creepily. “Oh, I really don’t think so. You were always the one pushing the others towards the discoveries you made, they wouldn’t have been able to pick out the relevant clues without you, so much of this relied on you being there. So no, I really don’t think I’m giving you too much credit.” He said and then sighed. 

Tsukumo continued. “I really had them fooled, you know. The royal family of Myronia, your stupid brother, they all trusted me, or at least they trusted me enough to not suspect me. Thanks to that little stunt you guys pulled, I’m going to have to move ahead with my plans a lot sooner than I initially intended. You are here as insurance, to keep your little friends in check, to ensure my success.” He explained. 

Riku frowned. “And why would keeping me here ensure your success?” He asked carefully. “Technically, it doesn’t, but like I said, it will keep your friends in check, and frankly, they’ve been really troublesome so far.” Tsukumo said. Riku still didn’t really understand just what he meant, even if some people, like Tenn or Iori, might stand down if Tsukumo had him, he still had the masses of two entire countries against him. “Is that really the only reason?” He asked skeptically. 

Hearing this, Tsukumo grinned before breaking out into a crazed laughter. It took Riku by surprise as it was so sudden, but it stopped just as soon as it had started. “You’re sharper than you look! Bravo!” He exclaimed, and Riku didn’t know if he should feel happy or scared that he figured out there was some sort of ulterior motive to his kidnapping. 

“You are correct! I didn’t bring you here just to put a stop to the others’ movements. You see, there’s something about you, I can’t seem to put a finger on what it is, but ever since I first saw you, I’ve been intrigued. I brought you here, not because it would make it easier for me, but simply because I wanted to, something about you is awfully interesting.” He said, and Riku felt a shiver go down his spine, suddenly he felt as if he probably shouldn’t have asked. He was sure that he no longer could hide his fear, his face must be giving it away by now. 

“If you were so interested, then why did you threaten to kill me right after we first met?” Riku asked, thinking back to their first meeting in Tsukumo’s apartment. Tsukumo smiled again, and Riku suddenly felt uncertain, had he said something wrong? He had to admit that something about all of this didn’t feel right, when the other had talked about his so called ‘interest’ in him he had talked as if he was referring to something that happened a long time ago, not something that happened just the other day. 

“I thought you were clever, but I see you haven’t made the connection yet. That day in my apartment wasn’t the first time I saw you.” Tsukumo said and Riku’s eyes widened at the revelation. “I’m hurt, I can’t believe that you don’t remember me, I thought I made quite an impression that night.” Tsukumo then said while smirking. 

Riku thought for a while, he just couldn’t see what the other was talking about. Then it hit him. “That night? Are you talking about the night of the gala? The man in the fire? That was you, wasn’t it?” Riku asked in awe, the thought had occurred to him before, but he hadn’t really thought about it that much. “So you do remember!” Tsukumo exclaimed loudly and happily. 

“Yes, that night, I was looking out at the chaos around me, and then I saw you, and you saw me, our eyes met. I could tell right away that there was a connection, and I just knew I had to learn more. I’ve never felt this way about another person, I’ve always regarded others with disinterest, they’re all so dull. And yet, after a few seconds of eye contact, you captured my interest. Do you see how special you are?” Tsukumo said dramatically as he leaned closer and grabbed Riku’s chin, forcing the younger boy to look up at him. 

Riku was breathing heavily and his eyes were wide in panic, he had realized earlier that Tsukumo probably wasn’t quite sane, but he didn’t think he was this crazy. The look he was giving Riku was unlike anything he had ever seen before and it scared him. Still, he didn’t back down, he wanted to know more, about Tsukumo Ryou and about his plans. “So, you really were responsible for the fire that night?” He asked, wanting confirmation. 

Tsukumo let go of Riku’s chin and leaned back in the chair. “Yes, that was me. I had to start somewhere, right? I want to tear down this world, I want undo what my ancestors did. They split this world in two, I want to recreate this world as one. In order to do so, I first need to destroy the world as we know it, after that I can rebuild it just as I want. I was planning on doing it slowly and thoroughly, but I’m sadly going to have to hurry up, considering you revealed me as the mastermind behind all of this.” He explained. 

For a minute, Riku forgot to be afraid. He was shocked after hearing Tsukumo’s plans, he didn’t know what to think about it, everything had just been so much bigger than he ever could have imagined. “You… intent to destroy the world? And then rebuild it in your own image?” He asked, sounding both shocked and terrified. “Impressive, right?” Tsukumo asked with a smirk. 

Riku wasn’t sure what happened, but he suddenly felt the urge to talk back. “Impressive? More like cliché. What are you trying to do? Recreate every adventure novel ever?” He asked mockingly. Soon, however, he realized that he probably shouldn’t have done this. 

Tsukumo looked awfully irritated the moment Riku said this. The older man stared down at the redhead before slamming his hands hard into the headboard to which Riku’s hands were tied and towered over the now frightened boy. “Cliché? If I wanted a cliché, I wouldn’t ensure my victory. If this was cliché, then wouldn’t the loser be me? As long as I win, it’s not a cliché, right?” He asked, the same crazed look as before clouding his eyes. 

Riku couldn’t answered, he just gulped and stared up at the other in shock and fear. Tsukumo sighed and leaned closer, Riku could now feel his breath on his cheek and it made tears well up in his eyes, he wanted nothing more than to run away from all of this. Riku wanted to scream and cry and kick him away, but his body was completely frozen, and the only things that left his mouth were breaths of air and quite whimpers. 

Tsukumo then sighed and sat up on the bed, finally leaving Riku room to breath properly again. “Now you see, you’re in no position to talk back to me. I’ll be leaving for now, but I’ll be back before long.” He said, after which he promptly left the room. 

The moment the door closed behind Tsukumo, Riku broke down. He was trying his best to calm down his breathing and stop the tears running down his cheeks, but it wasn’t that easy after everything that had happened. He didn’t know what to do, so with all his strength he called out to the one person he wanted by his side right now. “Iori!” 

_BAM_

Pain shot through him, starting from his jawline at the impact, and the force made Iori stumble a few steps back, almost falling to the ground. “You promised to protect him! I trusted you to make sure he was okay! I’m going to fucking kill you, Izumi Iori!” Kujou Tenn, the one who had thrown the punch at Iori’s face the moment he was off the ship, yelled angrily. Iori could do nothing but look at him with guilt, he couldn’t say anything to argue back, after all, he too believed it was his fault Riku was gone. 

Tenn launched again, but this time Ryuunosuke held him back and Mitsuki stepped in between him and Iori. “Woah, calm down! I get that you’re upset but taking your anger out on my brother is not going to make the situation any better!” Mitsuki sternly said. Tenn calmed down a bit and Ryuunosuke let him go, however, Tenn was still breathing hard and didn't stop glaring at Iori. 

Mitsuki turned around to check up on his brother. He reached out and took a closer look at Iori’s cheek and jawline, which was starting to bruise. “Are you going to be okay?” He asked. Iori didn’t say anything, he just nodded. 

Soon after they had gotten the note and had learned what had happened to Riku, they had contacted Gaku and the rest who had stayed behind in Myronia. It had now been two days since Riku disappeared and Iori and the rest had stayed in Port Danix while waiting for the Myronians to arrive, which they just had. Gaku, Tenn and Ryuunosuke, along with over fifty royal soldiers had just crossed the ocean, and more would soon come, in order to fight back against Tsukumo Ryou. 

The Pandragoran royal family were already aware of the situation, Nagi had sent them a message as soon as they could confirm that Tsukumo was in fact in Pandragora, and they had since then permitted the Myronian army to enter the country, something most people had never seen before. This move would undoubtedly end up causing some worries with the population, but right now they had to prioritize stopping Tsukumo Ryou, and in order to do that, the two countries would need to fight together. 

Tsukumo hadn’t exactly been quiet since he kidnapped Riku, in fact, he hadn’t even bothered to hide his movements since then. They knew about Osaka Soushi’s betrayal, and it turned out that he wasn’t the only one, a lot of the noble families of both Pandragora and Myronia seemed to be working with Tsukumo, which worried the ones fighting back and was also a big reason why they decided to go through with the newly formed alliance between the two countries. 

Tenn once again walked up to Iori, Mitsuki stepping in before his brother protectively. Tenn just rolled his eyes. “I still want to kill you, so you’re super lucky that Riku would never forgive me if I did, because that’s the only thing that is keeping me from doing that right now. He needs you now, so are you going to keep wallowing in self-pity, or are you going to help me get my brother back?” He scolded, which made Mitsuki visibly relax. 

Iori looked up and met Tenn’s intense gaze with one of his own. “Do you even need to ask?” He then answered, after which the two shared a small smile that they would forever deny happened if anyone dared ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And done! I hope you found this chapter interesting, that you all agree that Tsukumo Ryou is a total creep (just in case you didn't already think that), and that you're excited to see more of Iori and Tenn working together to save Riku! I'll be back on Wednesday with a new chapter, so look forward to that! That being said, thank you all so much for reading, thank you for leaving kudos and comment, or for supporting this story in any other way! <3<3


	49. Final Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukumo prepares to move locations while Iori and the rest try to come up with a plan to stop him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! You may notice that this update is a bit earlier than usual, I'll be working all afternoon today, and then head directly to my grandparents from there, so I probably won't have time to update later today! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! And if you have any questions or want to talk, you can either contact me via my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com, or my Twitter: @EFagerhag

“Get up!” Someone yelled, which startled Riku awake. He quickly sat up as well as he could while his hands were still tied to the bed and looked at whoever had just rudely woken him. In front of him was a man Riku had never seen before, he was very pale and had dark bags under his equally dark eyes, his hair was black, with some parts starting to fade into gray, and half of it was pushed back while some hung loose and covered parts of his face, he also wore a dark suit.

The strange man then lightly kicked the bed Riku lay in. “Are you deaf? I said get up!” He said, just as loud and impatient as before. Riku, in his still half-asleep state wasn’t sure what to do, this strange man intimidated him, but not nearly as much as Tsukumo Ryou did. He gulped once before he answered him. “I would if I could! Can’t you see that I’m tied to the bed? How am I supposed to get up?” 

The man sighed and reached into his pocket. Riku looked at his every movement and then paled when he saw the stranger pull out a small knife. The man got closer and Riku squeezed his eyes shut in fear, but when he still didn’t feel any pain for a while, he slowly opened them again. He opened his eyes just in time to see the man put away the same knife he had previously taken out, and then Riku noticed that he could actually move his arms. The man had cut the ropes that tied him to the bed. 

Riku stared down at his wrists who were now free of their confines, feeling relieved that they were no longer tied up, but also wincing slightly at how red and bruised they had gotten from all the friction they’d had to endure. The man then sighed and kicked the bed again. “Now, get up!” He yelled angrily and Riku hesitantly did as he was told. 

The moment he stood up, however, he felt the man grab his arms and twist them behind his back, once again tying them up with a new rope. Riku gasped and groaned in pain as his wrists, which had just been freed, were once again tied up hard. “Tsukumo-san has asked to have you moved, you will follow me, and if you cause any trouble, well, let’s just say that you already know what I’ve got in my pocket.” The man said, after which he grabbed one of Riku’s upper arms and started dragging him with him out of the room and through the dark corridors. 

This was the first time Riku had seen what was outside of the small room in which he had been kept, and frankly, he was rather disappointed. The walls, floors and ceilings were all made of the same stone material and there were no windows anywhere, nothing that could give away their current location. 

They walked for a few minutes, and Riku winced every once in a while as his arms were pulled in a painful way, which didn’t seem to matter at all to the strange man who pulled him along. Soon, they reached a room, which just so happened to be just as devoid of windows or indications of where they were as any other place they’d passed on the way. The man pushed Riku down onto one of the chairs that lined the wall and then stood in front of him, making sure he wasn’t running away. 

“What are we doing here?” Riku asked, he tried to sound stern and unbothered by the situation, but he had a feeling he sounded more scared and unsure than anything. The man just huffed and rolled his eyes. “I told you, you’re being moved. That’s all I’m saying.” He said, sounding awfully bored. 

Another few minutes passed, then one of the doors opened and someone called out a name. “Kujou-san! All the preparations for the transfer have been finished!” The mysterious person said. Riku felt a bit taken aback, the strange man who had followed him there was named Kujou? Why did that sound so familiar? Then it hit him. Kujou was the name of the Myronian nobleman who had disappeared shortly after the death of the queen, the man who had worked for the king prior to Tsukumo. 

Riku looked up at the man. “Kujou? You’re Kujou Takamasa? The one who went missing a few months ago?” He questioned. “Took you long enough.” Kujou said, his voice dripping with disinterest. “Why are you doing this? Are you working with Tsukumo?” Riku asked. 

Kujou turned to him, this time he looked angry. He leaned forward and grabbed Riku’s shoulder hard, so hard it would surely leave a bruise. “That is none of your business.” He said angrily and Riku could do nothing but nod and hope for the best. Kujou then stood up straight again and went over to get something from the other end of the room. It was a piece of cloth. 

Riku initially felt a bit confused, he didn’t know what would happen next. That is, until Kujou approached him again and tied the piece of cloth around his face, effectively making it so that Riku couldn’t see anything. He had been blindfolded. Once again, Riku was pulled to his feet and dragged down what he assumed to be another corridor. 

Soon, Riku could feel the sunlight hit his face as well as a light breeze. He had been taken outside, meaning the blindfold was most likely there to ensure he didn’t realize where they were. He was the pushed into something that seemed to be a carriage of some sort, but he wasn’t certain as he still couldn’t see anything. Kujou also got into the carriage and closed the door behind him. This was also when it became evident to Riku that there was a third person with them. 

“It’s been a while, did you miss me?” Said a sly voice that Riku would recognize anywhere. It was the voice of Tsukumo Ryou. Riku’s breathing sped up and he once again started panicking, Tsukumo Ryou apparently had that effect on him. “Speechless, eh?” Tsukumo then said. Riku could tell he had leaned closer as he could both smell and feel his breath close to his face, and it deeply unsettled him. 

“What do you say we take a little trip to the capital, eh? To Northmeir? Things are about to get really interesting.” Tsukumo then said and Riku gulped. He had a really bad feeling about where things were going. 

Iori, Mitsuki, Yamato, Tamaki, Sougo, Nagi, Gaku, Ryuunosuke and Tenn were all gathered around a table in one of their rooms at an inn in Port Danix in order to discuss their plans. “What’s the last we heard about Tsukumo?” Mitsuki asked to start them off. 

Ryuunosuke then pointed to a location on a map of Pandragora they had laid out in the middle of the table, right at northeast parts of Nort Forest where the woodlands met the mountains. “We’ve located his hideout, it's right here. We would try and attack him there, but we have very limited information about the place itself, and since we’re probably about even in numbers as of right now, they’d have the advantage since they now the terrain better. Also, it seems like they’re preparing to move, but we’re not sure where to yet.” He explained. 

"However,” Nagi cut in. “We do have scouts following his every movement, so it won’t be long until we do know where they’re going. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a report on that matter later today.” He explained, and just as he said this, the door flew open and two Pandragoran royal guards came in. They saluted before they spoke. “Your Highness, we have the report from the scouts situated in Nort Forest!” They exclaimed and Nagi just looked at the other eight people in the room with a smirk. 

“What does it say?” Nagi asked as he turned back to the guards seriously. “It seems they overheard a conversation, they’re planning on heading out tomorrow morning, and their destination is Northmeir, Sir, they don’t know why, though.” One of the guards explained. “Northmeir, huh?” Yamato repeated. 

“Thank you for the report, send a message to the scouts to keep an eye on them from afar until they reach the city.” Nagi instructed the two guards. They both saluted again and answered him. “Yes, Sir!” And then they promptly left the room, closing the door behind them. 

“So,” Yamato started as soon as they were alone once more. “Now that we have that new piece of information, what are the plans?” He asked. “I say we take him down as soon as possible, we know when he plans to move, let’s ambush him during the transfer. They’ll be confused and won’t even know what hit them.” Gaku suggested, a determined look on his face. 

“I don’t think that’s the best idea.” Iori said. “He hasn’t really been trying to hide his location, I bet he won’t be surprised if we attack him then and there, he’s smart and probably already assumes that we know where he is. Plus, if he does get surprised there’s going to be a lot of confusion at the scene, he’ll be bringing Riku with him for sure and we won’t be able to ensure his safety if we attack like that.” He explained further, earning a small smirk from Mitsuki which he simply ignored. 

“I can’t believe I'm saying this, but Izumi Iori is right, we shouldn’t attack while they’re on the road for exactly the reasons he already brought up.” Tenn said, which shocked Iori at first, then he remembered just how important Riku was to the other and that his comments about the redhead’s safety might have really convinced him. Iori smiled gratefully at Tenn, to which Tenn responded with a huff while rolling his eyes. 

Gaku looked a bit irritated as he turned to Iori. “What do you suggest then?” He asked skeptically. Iori blinked a couple of times, did they expect him to come up with a plan? He looked around the room for a while, and sure enough, everyone was looking at him in anticipation, except for maybe Tenn who mostly just looked annoyed. 

“Well,” Iori started, giving himself some time to think, it’s not that he considered himself to be a bad strategist, in fact he believed he was a quite good one, he had just never thought of a plan for something this big before. “I say we travel to Northmeir as fast as we can and wait for him there. He might expect us to follow behind him, but I doubt he expects us to already know his destination. If we are prepared to meet him in the capital, we might have the advantage.” He suggested. 

The others all agreed that this plan would probably work, and so their next move was decided. “Wait a minute.” Tamaki then said, making the rest turn to look at him with questioning looks. “Regarding Ricchan… Won’t we have the same problem as before? It’ll be hard to ensure his safety in the confusion on the battlefield.” He said. 

Iori opened his mouth to argue but realized that Tamaki did have a point. Luckily, there was someone else who seemed to have already thought of something in that regard. “I was going to bring this up later, but I guess I might as well do it now. During the confrontation with Tsukumo Ryou, there’ll be a lot of different things to do.” Nagi started. 

Everyone looked at the blonde prince as he kept explaining his ideas. “As the Pandragoran prince, I’ll be leading our armies, and I was thinking of having Yamato and Mitsuki by my side while I do so.” He started and looked at the two in question. Mitsuki smiled and nodded enthusiastically while Yamato patted Nagi on the back and nodded in agreement. 

Nagi then kept going. “Yaotome will obviously be leading the Myronian armies, and I believe it’ll be best if he does that along with Tsunashi! You don’t have a problem with that, do you?” He asked kindly as he turned to Gaku and Ryuunosuke, who first looked at each other and then back to Nagi, nodding determinedly. 

“And Sougo, I was thinking of having you and Tamaki help evacuate and protect the people of Northmeir, we can’t just ignore them as we go to fight, so I’ll entrust you with this very important task. Of course you won’t be alone, we’ll arrange a squad for you two.” Nagi continued to explain. “Of course, I’d be honored to.” Sougo replied. “Heck yeah! We’ll protect them all!” Tamaki exclaimed, making Nagi smile and nod at his enthusiasm. 

“And lastly, Iori, Tenn.” Nagi started as he turned to look at Tenn and Iori, who both looked really stiff and a bit uncomfortable. “I shall leave retrieving Riku to you two, focus on getting him back safely, then you can either join us or Sougo and Tamaki, whoever needs the help the most. I believe that will be the easiest way to go about this, don’t focus on the battle or the other people in the city, just get him back.” He explained seriously. 

Iori and Tenn looked at each other with vague disgust and uncertainty. They didn’t really get along, but they were the two people there who cared the most about Riku. And honestly, they both felt like they wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on the battle itself, or on the evacuation as long as they didn’t know whether Riku was fine or not. They both sighed simultaneously, making some of the other guys smile or chuckle, and then they turned to look at each other, nodding and showing just how determined they were to get Riku back to safety.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did you like that? I was a bit uncertain about how I should portray Kujou's character, as I feel like I don't have a great perception of his character from the game... Do you think I did okay, or is he totally wrong? ^^ Anyway, I hope you liked this, and I'll be back with the next update on Saturday! Thank you for reading and supporting me and this fic! I really appreciate all the kudos and comments, etc. <3<3<3


	50. Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iori and the others are preparing things in Northmeir and Tsukumo arrives. Needless to say, there's a lot of tension in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for another update! This is actually the last chapter before the final "battle" actually starts, so I hope you're excited! With that said, I hope you all will enjoy this chapter! If you have any questions or wanna talk to me, you can contact me on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or my Twitter: @EFagerhag

“How is the evacuation of the citizens going?” Nagi yelled out upon seeing Sougo again for the first time since having arrived at the capital. “Not nearly as fast as we would have hoped, we’re nowhere near done yet. Have you been able to spot Tsukumo?” He asked worriedly. Nagi frowned. “No, but I doubt it’ll be long until we do. Based on the report from our scouts, he should be here in less than an hour, unless he made a bunch of stops along the way.” Nagi answered.

Sougo nodded and started heading back the way he came when his wrist was grabbed by the blonde prince he had just been talking to. “Just keep evacuating people, even if we can’t finish in time, we’re not going to save more by stressing ourselves out. Of course I would love to get everyone to safety, but I’m afraid we’ll have to consider ever single person we can get out of here as something positive. Try not to think about what you can’t do, but of what you could do.” Nagi said and offered Sougo an encouraging smile. Sougo smiled back, nodded and then went back to trying to get as many people as possible into safety. 

It had been about three hours since the group had arrived in Northmeir and everyone was extremely busy with their respective preparations. Sougo and Tamaki had immediately started the evacuation of the people of the capital, Gaku and Ryuu had instructed the Myronian soldiers on what to do and then gotten to work themselves, Nagi, Yamato and Mitsuki had done the same, though Nagi had left them for a while in order to report to his parents. 

Of course, Iori and Tenn had also been doing their best when it came to getting ready for their rescue operation. Although, this had proven to be rather difficult as they had both soon agreed that it would be near impossible to come up with a plan without knowing Riku’s circumstances. Would he be with the rest of Tsukumo’s army? Would he be heavily guarded? Would he even be there? They had assumed so before, but truthfully, they didn’t even know that for sure. 

“So,” Iori started. “Are we going to assume that Tsukumo brought Riku along here?” He then asked. Tenn thought for a while and then nodded. “Yeah, I think we should do that, from the report we got from the scouts, it seemed as if everyone had left the hideout, even though they couldn’t tell if Riku was one of them, they doubted anyone was left.” Tenn answered. 

Iori frowned. “Why couldn’t the scouts have checked the hideout after Tsukumo left? It would have made this so much easier for us…” He complained. Tenn sighed and rubbed his forehead in annoyance. “Because, your prince ordered them to follow Tsukumo’s men and report if there were any drastic changes.” He said. “But, you’re right, it would have made our job a whole lot easier.” 

Hearing Tenn actually agree to something he had said made Iori almost speechless, the other had, after all, never wasted an opportunity to let Iori know just how much he disliked him. “Okay, this is getting ridiculous, there has to be something we can do!” Tenn then exclaimed, his irritation clearly showing. 

Iori pulled himself together and tried to think of something. “Then, how about this… We find someplace where we’ll be able to get a good view over what’s happening, so that the moment Tsukumo arrives, we’ll have a decent chance on spotting Riku. And then we come up with a more proper plan once we have more information. How does that sound?” He suggested. 

Tenn just looked at Iori as if he was stupid. “Does that even count as a plan?” He asked. Iori furrowed his brows and looked away from the other’s judging gaze. “Well, no, but at least it’s a start, which is more than what we’ve managed to come up with so far.” He said. Tenn sighed. “Fine, we’ll go with that then. You got anything more?” He then asked. 

Iori had to think for a few minutes and all the while Tenn sat staring right at him, which unnerved the raven-haired boy more than he’d like to admit. “What are the different scenarios?” He asked and Tenn just raised an eyebrow in question. “What do you mean?” He asked. “I mean, assuming Tsukumo brought Riku along, what are the different scenarios we could find ourselves in, or in what situations might we find him? If we think of this now, maybe we’ll have an easier time thinking of a plan once we figure out the actual situation.” Iori stated. 

Tenn huffed but started thinking about it anyway. “Well, he could be right there on the battlefield with Tsukumo, which would honestly be one of the worst-case scenarios, as we’d have to make our way through to the middle of a battlefield in order to get to him. It’s also likely that Tsukumo will or already has set up some sort of camp a bit away from the city, and if he did, it’s possible that’s where he’ll be keeping him. I guess he could have also taken him to some other location or hidden him somewhere else.” Tenn thought aloud. 

Iori nodded. “Then maybe our first course of action should be figuring out whether or not he’s actually on the battlefield, and if he is we’ll have to come up with a way to get to him, if he isn’t then maybe we’ll try to find that possible camp you were talking about?” Iori suggested. 

Tenn thought for a while, he had to admit that they weren’t bad ideas, and that it was easier working together with Iori than he had initially expected, but all their plans were all so uncertain and relied upon things they didn’t know yet. “Well, it’s not a bad idea at all, but we could also go straight to the source. I mean, if there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that Tsukumo Ryou is going to be there somewhere, and he will surely know where Riku is. So, if we get to him, we’ll be able to get to Riku. I think that’s the best way to do this.” Tenn explained. 

Iori looked at him and it was clear that he wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure? I do agree that it would probably be the best way to ensure we get his whereabouts, but it will be extremely dangerous. We both know what Tsukumo is capable of, don’t you think going right up to him might be a bit too risky?” Iori asked. 

Tenn leaned forward across the table the two of them were sat at and smirked at Iori. “Are you saying Riku isn’t worth the risk? That you’re not willing to go against Tsukumo to get him back?” He questioned and Iori’s eyes were immediately blown wide in shock and realization. Tenn knew it was kind of an underhanded tactic, but he felt like his plan would really work and needed to get Iori onboard with it. Using Riku like that had proven to be useful. 

“Let’s do it.” Was all Iori replied after that. 

Riku was getting really restless, after all, he’d been sitting in a carriage for a few hours now, while being blindfolded the entire time. He had been really nervous and afraid at first, but after a while they stopped for what he believed to be a few minutes and during that time Tsukumo Ryou had left him and Kujou alone, which really took a huge weight off his shoulders. Kujou Takamasa might be unpleasant and Riku didn’t like being around him at all, but it was a lot better than being around Tsukumo Ryou. 

They’d soon started moving again and had now been on the road for a lot longer than Riku would have liked. His arms and wrists hurt from being tied around the back, his butt and back were also hurting from sitting down for so long in a not so comfortable position. He sighed. “Hey, is it really necessary to keep the blindfold on? I already know where we’re going, so what’s the point?” Riku asked impatiently, his irritation taking over his fear. 

Kujou just clicked his tongue at him at first and Riku didn’t believe he’d get an answer. But then, a few seconds later, he heard the other sigh before he answered him. “I don’t make the rules. I was ordered to put you in the carriage wearing a blindfold, so I did. I don’t know why, but no one has told me to remove it yet, and so I won’t, end of discussion.” He said. 

Riku then stayed quiet for a while, not wanting to push his luck. However, he soon got even more restless than earlier and decided to try and strike up a conversation this time. “So, why are you working with Tsukumo?” He asked, which he realized might not have been the smartest thing to ask, but he was legitimately curious about it. 

“None of your business.” Kujou answered, sounding uninterested. Riku frowned, it had been the answer he had been expecting, but he still wasn’t satisfied with it. “Okay, let me rephrase it then. Why are you working for Tsukumo? He’s clearly the leader of all this, what made you want to follow him?” He asked this time. 

The reaction he got differed slightly, this time Kujou sighed before answering him. “Look, I don’t know what made a brat like you think you could just casually talk to me like this, but my answer is the same. It’s none. Of. Your. Business.” He answered. “I just don’t get it.” Riku then added. “It’s not like Tsukumo’s ideals are anything revolutionary, it’s actually quite cliché. I’m just really curious about what people find so appealing about that sort of thing…” He said. 

“You’ve never wanted to change the world? Have you never noticed things that are wrong with this world we live in that you’d like to correct? Because that’s what we’re doing. Is that enough of an answer to satisfy your nosy little mind?” Kujou answered, sounding very irritated by now, making Riku think he should probably stay silent from here on out, but he still ended up talking some more. 

“Well, of course I’ve noticed things I’d like to change, but destroying everything in order to change it? It seems a bit over-the-top if you ask me… Who can say that what Tsukumo will create will be better than what we have now? If he destroys everything, won’t he destroy the good as well?” He speculated out loud. 

Kujou clicked his tongue again. “Look, I don’t care what you think, and I doubt anyone else around here does either. So, why don’t you just shut your mouth before I lose it and shut it for you.” He said angrily, and this time, Riku really did keep his mouth shut from then on out. 

Some more hours passed, and then, finally, Riku felt the carriage come to a halt. He heard the door open and a voice he had never heard before told them what was going on. “We’ve arrived, it’s time to get out and get ready.” Whoever was stood outside said. Kujou sighed, Riku had lost count of how many times he’d done that by now, then stood up and grabbed Riku’s arm, pulling him up to his feet. Riku winced in pain as he had been yanked rather hard, and then winced again as Kujou Takamasa started dragging him out of the carriage and to god knows where. 

Soon, Kujou stopped walking, and thus Riku also came to a stop. “Remove his blindfold.” He heard a familiar voice say, and then, just as instructed, the blindfold was removed. Riku blinked and winced as the sunlight hit him right in the face, after so many hours of not being able to see anything, the sun was really hurting his eyes. 

It took a few minutes, but soon he managed to collect himself, and then he started taking in his surroundings. He was a bit shocked at first, as they weren’t in Northmeir like he had been told, they were actually a bit outside the city. He could see that Pandragoran capital along the horizon, so they weren’t far away, it seemed they had set up camp there. The next thing he noticed was that there were so many more people present than he had expected. Just how many people had Tsukumo managed to get to follow him? He was getting more and more nervous about the situation by the second. 

Riku then turned around and found the man who had ordered his blindfold to be removed, and sure enough, it was Tsukumo Ryou himself, standing there and staring ominously at Riku. Riku gulped, the fear that had kind of left him on the long way there came back all at once the moment he saw the other man. 

“Kujou, bring the boy and come with me.” Tsukumo said, not once taking his eyes of Riku, he then gave Riku an evil smirk before turning around and walking away towards a small clearing in the woods, away from all the other people. “Yes Sir.” Kujou said, after which he once again started pulling on Riku’s arm to drag him with him. 

They soon reached the clearing, much to Riku’s dismay. The moment it was just the three of them, Tsukumo’s expression turned serious and he started talking. “There’s been a slight change of plans, it seems I underestimated the enemy, they’re prepared to face us right outside of the city. Because of this, it’ll be harder to accomplish what I mainly came here to do.” He started explaining. Riku silently cheered when he heard that his friends had managed to catch Tsukumo off-guard, even if only a little bit. 

Kujou nodded and gave him a serious look. “Then what are you planning to do?” He asked. Now Tsukumo smirked. “Luckily, my plans were flexible and easy to adjust. I’m going to lead our army to meet the enemy outside of Northmeir, just like they want, but once the battle has started, I plan to slip away in all the commotion and enter the city from somewhere else. I want you to take Riku here into the city without anyone noticing before the battle starts and wait for me. If I’m discovered inside the city and it becomes clear that I’m not in fact on the battlefield, he will be my insurance, my ticket to success.” 

This time, it was Kujou’s time to smirk. “So, I just need to get the boy into the capital without being noticed, and then wait for you there?” He confirmed and Tsukumo nodded. “Where do we meet?” He then asked. “By the southernmost square, wait for me there unless it becomes clear that we’re losing, if that happens, try and complete my mission, then kill the boy.” Tsukumo answered. “Got it.” Kujou said with a smile. 

Riku gulped again, he didn’t know exactly what Tsukumo was planning to do inside the city, but he was positive it couldn’t be anything remotely good. He just hoped someone would notice Tsukumo Ryou leaving the battlefield or getting into the city. 

Iori and Tenn were currently stood at the very top in one of Northmeir’s watchtowers, so that they could easily have an overview of the entire battlefield, they could see the entire armies belonging to both Pandragora and Myronia as well as the entire field outside the city. It was the perfect look-out spot. 

They’d gone up there after checking in with the others once they had come up with their plan, which still wasn’t very detailed and relied a lot on what the situation would turn into. Both Iori and Tenn were getting restless, they’d been waiting for longer than they had thought they'd need to, and neither were very keen on conversing with the other. 

However, soon they heard just what they had been waiting for. They heard the loud signal that told them that something was getting close to the city, a warning that something potentially dangerous was getting close to the city. They both simultaneously looked out over the horizon and soon saw what they’d been looking for. An army. “They’re here.” Iori whispered before looking over at Tenn, who looked him in the eyes, and then they nodded to each other, confirming that it was now officially starting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Done! Did you like it? I hope you did! I'll be back on Wednesday as usual with the next chapter, so I'll see you all then! Thank you for reading and I hope you were able to enjoy it! ^^ Also, thank you so much for leaving kudos/comments/other support, it really means a lot! <3


	51. The Battle Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle between the two sides has started, Iori and Tenn notice Tsukumo acting weirdly and Kujou and Riku infiltrate the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! And I am so excited for these next couple of chapters! I'd say this is the most intense part of the story, and it was a bit different from anything I've ever written before, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out in the end! ^^ Anyway, please enjoy this chapter! If you have any questions or want to talk to me, you can contact me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

The air was heavy and the atmosphere was tense with all the expectations hanging in the air. Iori and Tenn were still up in the watchtower, gazing out over the field that now separated the troupes belonging to their friends from the ones that belong to Tsukumo. They could see everyone, including Tsukumo himself on a high horse in front of every one of his followers. However, they could not see the one person they were truly looking for, Riku. This was both a disappointment and a relief, they were glad he didn’t seem to be present on the actual battlefield, but they were also a bit worried about still not knowing his whereabouts.

“Keep a close eye on Tsukumo, I’ll keep looking for Riku.” Tenn said in a very commanding voice. Iori rolled his eyes but didn’t argue against him and closely observed Tsukumo Ryou, not taking his eyes off of him for even a second. All his men were lined up on the field outside of the capital, waiting for some sort of sign to take action. Iori knew that Nagi and the others were planning to wait until Tsukumo made his move, not wanting to rush into anything that would spill unnecessary blood. Thus, what happened next would all be up to one man, to Tsukumo Ryou. 

After just a few minutes of waiting, Tsukumo made a move. Iori hit Tenn’s arm, making him turn to him with an annoyed expression. “Hey! What’s the big deal?” He asked, sounding a bit offended. Iori just turned and gave him a deadpan look. “Oh, nothing, it just seems as if Tsukumo is about to take action, but never mind, it was stupid of me to assume you wanted to know something of actual importance.” He said dryly, making Tenn huff and turn to look over to where Iori had been looking before. 

Both Iori and Tenn were concentrated on what was going on outside, they could tell that Tsukumo was giving some kind of speech to his men, but they could hardly make out what he was saying due to the distance, despite him clearly yelling at the top of his lungs. About a minute later, Tsukumo turned around and pointed a sword at the gates of Northmeir and yelled something they both actually managed to catch. “ATTACK!” And then the men that were all stood behind him started storming towards the city, full speed ahead. The battle was starting. 

“Shit!” Tenn cursed. “There’s too many people, we’re going to lose Tsukumo!” He then exclaimed. “Well, maybe you did, but I haven’t lost him, I kept my eyes on him this entire time.” Iori informed Tenn, who looked slightly impressed, though he would never admit that. “Where is he now then?” Tenn asked eagerly. 

“That’s the thing…” Iori started and Tenn lifted an eyebrow in confusion. “He hasn’t moved at all, he’s still standing in the exact same location as he did before.” Iori explained and pointed. Sure enough, Tenn could easily spot him once Iori had pointed him out. “What is he waiting for?” Tenn asked, though Iori didn’t give him a reply, simply because he didn’t have any. 

Soon though, he did move. “Hey, look! He’s moving!” Iori yelled and pointed furiously at the figure who had just started moving. Tenn looked serious as he followed Tsukumo with his eyes. “I can see that, but why is he moving away from the city, and from the battle?” He questioned. “Do you expetct me to know that?” Iori asked sarcastically. They kept following Tsukumo with their gazes, the watchtower really did provide a great view of the surrounding area, it was small, but they could still make out Tsukumo’s whereabouts. 

A short while later Iori finally understood what was going on. “He’s going around.” He stated, making Tenn turn to him while looking confused. “What do you mean?” He asked. “I mean, he’s walking around, heading into the city from another entrance! Everyone is busy with the battle, he must be meaning to sneak inside from somewhere else!” Iori explained. 

Tenn looked at the raven-haired boy in disbelief. “Please, don’t tell me you guys were stupid enough to leave all the other entrances to the city open in order to defend the main one.” Tenn said. Iori shook his head. “Of course we’re not that stupid! But the security is not nearly as good around the other entrances, he’d probably only need a handful of people to break through.” Iori said. 

Tenn nodded and then he stood up. Iori did too but looked confused as to what they were doing now. Tenn rolled his eyes at the others obvious confusion. “Our goal was to find and reach out directly to Tsukumo, right? Then let’s follow him and see what he’s up to!” Tenn exclaimed, sounding annoyed. “Right!” Iori said as he understood what they were doing. The two then promptly left the watchtower and headed down to find Tsukumo Ryou. 

Riku couldn’t help but stand frozen after the scene he had just witnessed, he gulped and tried his best to keep his breathing steady. He was stood in the empty streets of Northmeir and looked out over the aftermath of what had just transpired. Several Pandragoran guards all lay dead on the ground, this was the first time Riku saw something like this and it was making it very hard to both keep standing, keep his breathing steady and make sure the little amount of food he had recieved stayed in his stomach. 

Upon trying to get into the city, Riku and Kujou Takamasa had been spotted by some guards who had then wasted no time in attacking them. However, no one there, including Riku, had expected Kujou to be able to take everyone out in just a few minutes. Riku was honestly baffled, the older man didn’t look or act like a fighter if you asked him, so seeing him doing all of that had left Riku shaking in fear and desperation to just get as far away from all of this as possible. 

Riku was then pulled out of his thoughts as Kujou pushed his shoulder and yelled at him. “Move!” He commanded, and Riku was too scared at the moment to do anything else. They walked slowly and carefully, as to not be discovered by anyone else. There had been one point when they had seen more soldiers ahead of them and Riku had been so tempted to just call out to them, but he knew that if he did that, things would end badly for either him or them, or maybe both. So instead he just kept his mouth shut until Kujou motioned for him to keep moving. 

Soon, they reached the square Tsukumo had ordered them to wait at, and Kujou immediately hid himself and Riku in one of the alleyways in case some unwanted people came by. Then they stood there and waited for Tsukumo to come find them, and all the while Riku’s heart was beating like crazy. 

It didn’t take long until they started hearing things in the distance, there were crashing and screaming, letting them know that the actual battle had definitely started by now. They kept waiting, and then, what Riku guessed was about an hour later, he and Kujou saw Tsukumo walking up to the square. Kujou stood up and Riku took a deep breath before he was pulled along. 

The moment they stepped out of the alleyway, Tsukumo noticed the two and walked over to meet them. “Ah, I see you made it here safely.” Tsukumo said, sounding very pleased. Kujou nodded. Tsukumo then turned to Riku, walked closer and the redhead tried to back away, but couldn’t due to Kujou’s grip on his arm. Tsukumo reached out and grabbed Riku’s chin, forcing the younger to look at him. “Now behave, be silent and follow us.” He commanded. 

Riku just stared at the older man without saying anything, he tried to look angry, determined and strong, but he guessed based on the smirk Tsukumo was giving him that he probably looked more scared than anything. Tsukumo let go of Riku and started walking, motioning for Kujou to follow him and bring Riku along. 

They kept walking through the streets of Northmeir before they were about to run into a group of people, due to which they once again hid in an alleyway. “Sir?” Kujou asked, clearly addressing Tsukumo who turned to look at him while raising an eyebrow in question. “Are you certain this is the best way to get to the royal family? Shouldn’t we bring more people to ensure that we can actually win should a fight break out?” He asked. 

_‘The royal family?’_ Riku thought to himself. “This operation relies on stealth, which is why I decided not to bring more people, you’re my best fighter, which is why I choose you to accompany me, also, we have a hostage. The battle creates the perfect distraction, making it so that we can easily sneak into the palace, kill the royal family before rejoining the battle to slay as many of the pests as possible.” Tsukumo elaborated and Kujou nodded in understanding, however, Riku could barely believe what he had just heard. 

“You’re going to murder the royal family of Pandragora?” Riku asked. The two older men turned to him, one wearing a neutral but serious expression and the other smirking like a mad man. “That’s right.” Tsukumo started. “The von North family have ruled this country since its founding, they’re the foundation this entire kingdom is built on, if we remove them all of Pandragora will collapse under the pressure.” He then explained. 

Riku looked horrified upon hearing Tsukumo’s real plans, it was true that if he murdered the entire royal family, all of Pandragora would change drastically, it would no longer be the same, and maybe it would even end up destroying itself like he wanted. “You’re actually going to try and end the world? That’s insane! What about all the people? You can’t just-” Riku yelled out but was interrupted as Tsukumo harshly pushed him up against the wall of the alleyway they were in and covered his mouth with his hand. 

“You would never understand!” Tsukumo yelled right in his face and Riku flinched at the loudness of it, then winced as he felt Tsukumo dig his fingernails into his cheek, the pain making tears roll down his face. 

Riku closed his eyes, but then he heard Tsukumo grunt and felt him release his face. He then slowly opened his eyes only to see Tsukumo covering on the ground, wincing in pain and holding onto his face. Upon taking a closer look, Riku could see that there was blood running down the side of his face, starting from one of his eyebrows. Riku was confused at first, what had just happened? Then he looked down and saw that on the ground there was a small but bloody rock, about the size of a walnut. Someone must have thrown it at Tsukumo. 

Riku, as well as Kujou and Tsukumo, at the best of his abilities, all turned to see who had dared throw the rock. Riku’s eyes widened and he felt his stomach drop as he saw just who it was. Further down the alley, there was a small figure with tousled hair, bare feet and ragged clothes, and Riku recognized her immediately. “Kinako?” Riku whispered out in mixed disbelief and fear that something horrible was about to happen to the little girl. 

“You fucking brat!” Tsukumo yelled out and grabbed the same rock that had hit him earlier and lunged it right at Kinako. However, his coordination was way off, probably from the hit just now, and it missed her by lot. “You can’t hurt him…” Kinako choked out, barely audible. Then she looked up, tears streaming down her cheeks despite the determined expression she wore. 

“You can’t hurt him! You can’t hurt Riku! I won’t let you hurt him!” She then yelled out, catching all of them by surprise. Riku was crying, he wanted to reach out to Kinako, wanted nothing more than to hold her close and protect her from whatever wanted to hurt her. But he also wanted her to get as far away from there as possible, he wasn’t stupid, Tsukumo wasn’t going to let this go, he would kill her. 

“Run…” He tried calling out to her, but his voice was so rough it barely came out a whisper. He then pushed himself off the wall, coughed a few times and then tried again. “Kinako! Run!” He yelled out, and this time it came out as loud as he wanted. 

Kinako’s expression then turned into one of fear as Tsukumo motioned for Kujou to go and take care of her. Kujou didn’t waste any time, he quickly walked over to the little girl who started screaming as soon as she saw him getting closer. Riku watched in fear, he wanted to run to her, but his stupid legs wouldn’t move, they could barely support his own weight just standing up against the wall. In one last desperate attempt to just do something as Kujou got closer and closer to the frightened child, he let out a scream as loud and full of emotion as he possibly could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm ending it on yet another cliffhanger >.< I'm so sorry Kinako!!! Anyway, I hope you were able to enjoy this and that you'll be looking forward to the next update, which will be up on Saturday! Thank you for reading, and for supprting me by leaving kudos, comments, or in other ways! <3<3


	52. The Battle Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenn and Iori, during their search for Tsukumo, hears a scream and goes to find the source.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm once again back with a new chapter! I hope you all will enjoy it! If you have any questions or want to talk to me, you can either find me on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

Iori and Tenn had tried their best to follow Tsukumo, but despite their efforts, they had soon lost him. They had, however found what they believed to be his entry point. There were dead soldiers on the ground, and they could tell that there had been some sort of fight. Iori had to cover his mouth when he saw this, he wasn’t used to things like that and he hoped he never had to see it for himself.

After they found the bodies, the two had kept walking, hoping to find the man before he could get too far ahead of them. Soon though, the two stopped in their tracks as they heard screaming that seemed to come from a few streets away from them. Both Tenn and Iori quickly turned around to stare at each other in shock for a few seconds, firstly because they realized that the screaming couldn’t be from the battle, mostly because they were too far away from it, and they were also in the parts of the city that had been evacuated by now, there shouldn’t be anyone else here. 

However, they also realized something else, they recognized the voice. “That scream…” Tenn started. “Riku!” Iori finished, and then they took off, running down the streets toward where they thought the scream had come from. 

Riku looked on in absolute fear as Kujou stormed towards Kinako as fast as he could, then he drew his sword and swung it down hard right where Kinako was standing. “NOOO!!” Riku screamed again. He took a shaky step forward and almost collapsed, but now he could see better. There had been a loud crash as Kujou swung down his sword and Riku could see that it had been from him having accidentally knocked over a few boxes while swinging his sword. 

There was no sign of Kinako, until one of the fallen over boxes started moving and the little girl crawled out from underneath it. She was a bit bruised and dirty, but there didn’t seem to be any blood, so she probably wasn’t too badly hurt. Kujou saw that he had completely missed and prepared to take another swing, but just as he did, Kinako leapt onto the pile of fallen over boxes, climbed over it and once again avoided his attack. 

“Come back here, you brat!” Kujou yelled angrily, this was probably the angriest Riku had ever seen the other. Riku once again tried to walk up to them, wanting to do whatever he could to try and protect Kinako, but this time it wasn’t his wobbly legs that stopped him, it was the hand that now had a strong grip on his upper left arm. He turned around only to see a furious looking Tsukumo Ryou, still with blood running down the side of his face. “You’re not going anywhere.” He gritted out as he glared at Riku and tightened his grip. 

Riku winced as Tsukumo pulled him closer and held him tight. He tried to pull free, but to no avail. A scream came from further down the alleyway and Riku looked up, Kinako had just barely avoided a hit and was now covering on the ground with nowhere to go, Kujou towering over her. “You’ve got nowhere to run anymore.” He said with a smirk and a crazed look in his eyes. 

Riku could see Kinako shake in fear and with tears running down her cheeks she shook her head, silently pleading for the other not to kill her. But Kujou just chuckled and lifted his sword, preparing to end it once and for all. “Stop! Please!” Riku yelled out as he once again tried to pull free from Tsukumo’s hold, but once again he accomplished nothing. 

Just as Kujou was about to end it all with one final swing Riku closed his eyes, he couldn’t watch this. But the sound he heard was far different from what he expected. Instead of screams of pain there was the sound of metal hitting metal. Riku opened his eyes and was shocked to see his brother standing in the alleyway, his sword drawn while he had pushed his way in front of Kinako. The sound was Kujou’s blade hitting Tenn’s sword. 

“Riku!” Someone then called out, but it wasn’t his brother. Riku looked up and could see Iori standing further down the alley. “Iori… Tenn-nii…” Riku sobbed, feeling so relieved upon seeing those two again. Tenn grunted and pushed Kujou away. The older man took a few steps back towards Tsukumo and Riku but didn’t put down his sword for even a second. 

Behind him, Riku both heard and felt Tsukumo starting to laugh at the scene before them. Iori and Tenn glared at him, but it seemed to do nothing but amuse him further. “Would you look at that? It seems your knights in shining armor finally found you! Aren’t you lucky?” He exclaimed while pulling Riku’s hair back so that the young boy would look him in the face. 

Riku winced at the pain in his scalp and alternated between staring down Tsukumo and looking over to Iori and Tenn, checking to make sure that they were both still okay. Upon seeing the pain on Riku’s face, both Iori and Tenn felt alarmed and took a step forward but stopped as they remembered Kujou standing between them and Riku and Tsukumo. “Let him go.” Iori demanded, and this was probably the first time Riku had seen and heard the other man so angry, it sent chills down his spine. 

Tsukumo however, still looked completely unfaced by the two new additions in the alley, in fact, he had for some reason been more out of it upon seeing Kinako, probably because she had taken him by surprise and had actually managed to hit him. He smirked at them. “If I were you, I’d take a step back, and do exactly as I say.” He said slyly. Iori and Tenn looked at each other first, then back at Riku and Tsukumo, they refused to budge. 

Tsukumo sighed, reached behind him and pulled out a small handgun, which he held up to Riku’s head. Riku in turn felt his breathing become more and more uneven upon seeing the small but deadly object. “Does this perhaps change your minds?” Tsukumo asked, still with a big smirk on his lips. 

Iori was the first to take a step back, but he still looked just as furious while staring daggers at Tsukumo. Tenn soon followed and stepped back too, standing beside Iori. “Good boys.” Tsukumo started. “Now, I’m going to leave, and you will be staying here because the moment I see you again, I’ll pull the trigger and then you’ll have to say bye bye to your precious Riku.” He then said, making both Tenn and Iori’s glares intensify. 

Tsukumo started taking a few steps back towards the big street, out of the alleyway. It was then that Iori’s look changed from one of anger to one of desperation. “Wait! Just-” He started but became silent again when he saw Tsukumo stop and press the gun harder to Riku’s head, who in return let a small sob. Iori held his hands up in front of him, waiting until the other had calmed down before continuing. 

“Just please, let him go.” Iori pleaded to Tsukumo who just scoffed. “Right, because I’ll do that just because you tell me to. Forget it, he’s my insurance, which means that he’s not going anywhere near you.” Tsukumo said, looking awfully proud as he did. He then once again started backing away. 

“Wait! Please!” Iori yelled out as he took a step forward, which made Tsukumo tense up and press the gun to Riku’s head so hard it was sure to leave a bruise. “I’ll kill him right here and now if you don’t stay back!” He yelled. This time, Tenn also started panicking. “If you kill him now, you’ll just lose your insurance! We’ll just catch you!” He exclaimed. 

Tsukumo started laughing, but soon calmed down. “No, I’d create enough time for me to get away, I know it’s just the two of you here, so if I shoot him, I’ll definitely have enough time to escape.” He said with a bright smile on his face. Then he seemed to think for a while before snapping back into reality, this time with an even brighter day. “But maybe you’re right, maybe I’d be better off to keep him with me for a while longer, after all.” Tsukumo said, his voice laced with something that unnerved both Riku, Iori and Tenn. 

Tsukumo removed the gun from Riku’s head, after which the redhead visibly relaxed. “I’ll just shoot her instead!” Tsukumo exclaimed with a wide grin spreading across his face as he lifted the gun again, but this time he was pointing it towards Kinako, who was still standing in the back, watching the scene unfold. 

The next few seconds went by in a blur. Riku could see Tsukumo press down the trigger and heard the gun go off. He screamed out just as he realized what was happening. Riku closed his eyes as tears again started running down his cheeks and he heard Kinako scream loudly. However, it wasn’t a scream of pain, it was a scream of fear and sadness. Riku slowly opened his eyes, and what he saw next made his entire world collapse. 

There was blood on the ground, but the one covered in it wasn’t the little orphan girl, it was Iori. The moment Tsukumo had pointed his gun at the young girl, Iori’s body had moved as if it was on autopilot. He had run to her and blocked her with his own body. As he then heard the gun go off, he felt a sharp pain in the lower left part of his abdomen that quickly spread throughout the rest of his body. He collapsed onto the ground, and it was first then that he let out a scream of pain. 

Tenn watched the scene unfold with shock, and for a few seconds it was like time was completely frozen for him. Taking advantage of the situation, Tsukumo quickly put the gun away, lifted Riku up in his arms and made a gesture to Kujou. “Take care of the rest of them.” He ordered him as he then turned around and started running away from the scene. 

Riku was struggling against Tsukumo’s hold on him, he wanted to run over to Iori, he wanted to hold him, to reassure him that everything was going to be okay, he wanted to fix him. But no matter how he struggled, Tsukumo’s hold on him didn’t loosen at all. “No! Iori! Iori!” Riku yelled out as he was forcefully taken away from Iori, away from Tenn, away from everything that mattered to him. 

Back in the alley, Tenn had finally snapped out of his stupor upon hearing Riku’s screams. He looked up just in time to see Riku being carried away by Tsukumo. Anger took over his entire complexion and he dashed after them. But before he could get more than a few meters ahead, he was stopped by Kujou Takamasa, the man Tsukumo had ordered to stay behind and finish them off. 

Tenn glared at him as he realized he would have to fight. Right now, the only thing he wanted to do was to take off after Riku, but he knew that if he just left like that, Iori and the little girl would definitely not survive, and so he decided to stay and fight this man before anything else. 

As Tenn and Kujou fought, Kinako was kneeling on the ground next to Iori, she had no idea what to do, she was only five after all. But she did know that this man had saved her life, and she wanted to do whatever it took to save him in return. Also, he seemed to be really important to Riku, so he would be really sad if he died, and Kinako definitely didn’t want to make Riku sad. Instead, she wanted to make him happy by trying to save this man who had saved her. 

Iori winced in pain as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked down and pulled up his shirt with shaking hands to try and assess just how bad the situation was. Luckily, he didn’t think he had been shot in such a way that it damaged anything really important, however, he would need to stop the bleeding and then get to a proper doctor. 

“U-uhm… C-can I do anything?” Kinako asked in a shaky voice that could barely be heard over her sobs. Iori looked up at her and gave her the most genuine smile he could manage in his current condition. Riku had been right, she seemed like a really sweet girl, and he suddenly felt a lot better about his decision to take that bullet if it meant he had been able to keep her safe. “I-it’s okay.” Iori choked out. “I just need to stop the bleeding and then make my way to a doctor, then I’m sure I’ll be fine.” He told her. 

Kinako stared at him with her big eyes, and Iori felt like he should probably tell her to look away, a small girl like her shouldn’t have to witness such a bloody scene. Before he could do that though, the two were joined by a third person. 

Iori looked over and saw Tenn now kneeling on his other side, he was breathing heavily and was covered in blood. Iori craned his neck to see behind Tenn, and sure enough, the third man who had been with Tsukumo and Riku lay dead on the ground. Tenn must have beaten him. “How is it? You won’t die, right? Man, Riku would kill me if I let you die.” Tenn said, making Iori laugh, though the laugh quickly died out and turned into a wince as he realized that laughing while you had a hole in your stomach probably wasn’t the best idea. 

“I’ll live, but you have to go.” Iori said, making Tenn look at him weirdly. “What?” He questioned. Iori just sighed. “You need to get Riku back, promise me you’ll get him back. I’ll be fine, but not if I lose him. Please, go save him.” Iori pleaded, giving Tenn the most serious look he ever had. 

Tenn just looked at Iori in disbelief. “Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?” He asked, but he was already standing up, getting ready to go after Riku and Tsukumo. “He won’t be on his own! I’ll stay and help!” Kinako exclaimed, shocking both of the boys. Iori smiled at her gently and thanked her. Tenn nodded and then he darted off, following after Tsukumo in order to save his brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I feel the need to apologize to all of you, as well as to Iori, Riku, Kinako and everyone I make suffer in my fanfic and with my fanfic... I'm so sorry! >.< That aside, I hope you were able to enjoy this chapter (Though I guess enjoy might not be the best word for what I just made you go though) and I will be back with the continuation on Wednesday! <3 Thank you so much for reading, and thank you even more for your support!! <3<3


	53. The Battle Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sougo and Tamaki have their hands full with the evacuation, Gaku and Ryuu are frustrated that they can't seem to find Tsukumo on the battlefield, Nagi, Yamato and Mitsuki work together to stop Tsukumo's men from entering the city and Iori gets some help from Kinako.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, I'm back with a new chapter! This story is getting really close to the end now, which makes me both sad and excited to be honest. That being said, I have some info about the last few capters, but I'll be writing that in the end notes, so be sure to check them out! Now, let's get on with the story, please enjoy!  
> If you have any questions or want to talk to me, you can do so either on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

A loud crash could be heard in the distance, along with screams of fear and anger, there was also fire to be seen. All of the sounds and the sights were riling the people up, which was kind of a problem. Sougo sighed as he picked up a small boy who were crying on the side of the road, while all around him there were people screaming, crying, pushing and just generally being panicked. There were only a few groups left to be evacuated, but Sougo had encountered a minor problem, everyone started freaking out a lot more once the battle actually started, even though anyone was yet to reach the area where they were.

“Everyone, listen to me! I’m going to need you to stay calm and collected, I know it’s scary, but this is just going to take longer if you start to panic! So please, calm down and follow my lead, I’ll make sure to get you all to safety!” He exclaimed as he once again tried to lead the group of people away from the danger. People were still crying and pushing, but it had calmed down slightly. 

Getting that one group to safety had taken a lot longer than Sougo would have liked, it was first about an hour later that they had finished, however, with that one group taken care of, they only had one more to evacuate. “Sou-chan!” Sougo heard in the distance and turned to see Tamaki running towards him. “Tamaki-kun, is there a problem?” Sougo asked worriedly. 

Tamaki was breathing heavily as he reached Sougo, most likely from running. “We really need to hurry, I think Tsukumo’s troupes are starting to get into the city!” He explained. Sougo nodded and started gathering the other soldiers who were helping them out. “Tamaki-kun, will you stay here and make sure that no one gets through that gate while I go and gather the last few people?” Sougo asked as he gestured to the gate leading to the area where they had evacuated everyone to. 

Tamaki nodded. “Of course.” He answered and Sougo then smiled at him gratefully in return before turning to the rest of the soldiers. “Okay, everyone’s been doing great, now we have one last group to evacuate, let’s go!” He ordered and everyone acknowledged it and started taking off in the direction of the last area that needed to be evacuated. 

Sougo was about to follow the rest when he felt someone grab onto his wrist, he turned around and saw Tamaki looking at him more seriously than he ever had before. “Be careful, Sou-chan.” He then said. Sougo smiled and then reached up to pat Tamaki’s head. “I will, and you also need to be careful.” Sougo said, putting his full trust in Tamaki before he once again turned around and ran off to finish the evacuations. 

“YAAARGHH!” Gaku yelled as he pushed one of Tsukumo’s men off him. All around him it was chaotic, it wasn’t clear whether it was going good or bad, both sides seemed equally successful, which annoyed Gaku. He had quickly lost sight of the majority of the Pandragoran army once the battle begun and was currently surrounded by either his own men or those belonging to the enemy. 

Gaku saw one of Tsukumo’s men coming straight towards him and put up his sword again, they clashed for a while but in the end Gaku was successful. He then ducked behind some debris laying on the ground in an attempt to catch his breath before resuming the fight. However, it turns out he wasn’t the only one who had that idea. 

Gaku startled at first when he noticed that he wasn’t alone, but soon relaxed when he saw it was just Ryuunosuke. “Hey.” The brunette greeted with a smile, sounding just as out-of-breath as Gaku felt. He smiled back and patted his friend’s shoulder. “You doing okay?” He asked. 

“Well,” Ryuunosuke started. “I’m not dead, am I?” Gaku let out a breathy laugh. “You’re right, I suppose that counts as doing okay.” He answered. The two smiled at each other but then got all serious again. “By the way, have you seen Tsukumo anywhere? I haven’t seen him since he gave the signal to start the battle.” Gaku asked and Ryuunosuke shook his head as an answer. 

“No, I was thinking about that too.” Ryuunosuke said. “Damn it!” Gaku exclaimed as he punched the ground in frustration. Ryuunosuke sighed. “I get that you’re riled up about Tsukumo, but if you only focus on finding him out there, something could go really wrong. Don’t lose focus on the battle just because you can’t find the man you really want to see dead.” He said. 

Gaku sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. “I know.” He said and stood up. “I’ll focus on the battle, and just hope that he turns up before me, dead or alive, at some point. I swear he’ll pay for what he did.” He said. Ryuunosuke stood up too and placed a hand on Gaku’s shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. “And he will, but promise me you won’t lose sight of who you are in the process, you’re a good man, so don’t forget that.” Ryuunosuke said. 

Gaku nodded and smiled gratefully at his friend. “Well,” The prince then started. “I think it’s about time we got back.” He then said with a smirk, which Ryuunosuke returned, and then they were off. 

“Shit!” Yamato exclaimed as he felt the blade of his opponent cut through the fabric of his sleeve along with the first few layers of skin on his upper right arm. “Yamato-san!” Mitsuki yelled out as he watched the scene unfold, he himself was still fighting someone, but the moment he saw his friend get hurt he made sure to quickly beat the guy and rush over to help the other. 

Mitsuki rushed over to Yamato’s side, but he got there too late as Yamato had already finished him off by the time Mitsuki was there. “Are you okay?” Mitsuki asked. Yamato chuckled, ran a hand through his hair and fixed his glasses. “Yeah, it’s just a small scratch, don’t worry about it.” Yamato explained. Mitsuki smiled and nodded. 

“Mitsuki! Yamato!” The two heard someone yell from afar, and not just anyone, the two would recognize that accent anywhere. They turned around and saw Nagi headed for them. “Nagi? Shouldn’t you be at the front? You know, leading the army?” Mitsuki asked in confusion. 

Nagi just shrugged. “I left someone else in charge for now, we have bigger problems and I need your help.” He said seriously. Both Mitsuki and Yamato nodded. “They’ve started finding ways into the city, we need to stop them from doing so anymore. I’ve already sent a few men over there to deal with the ones who already got in, but will the two of you help me block the entrances they created?” Nagi explained the situation. 

“Do you even need to ask?” Yamato answered with a smirk, which earned him similar expressions from the other two, and then the three friends were off. 

Apparently, Tsukumo’s men had somehow managed to make two holes in the wall surrounding the city, which was how they had gotten inside. Yamato, Nagi and Mitsuki quickly blocked the first one and was currently headed toward the other hole when they saw a handful of Tsukumo’s men up ahead. The three quickly ducked into an alleyway in order to avoid being seen by them. 

“Crap, they’re blocking our way…” Nagi exclaimed. “Well then, can’t we go around?” Mitsuki suggested. “It’ll take longer but I think that’s our safest bet. There’s at least ten people out there, it’s too risky to take them all on by ourselves.” Yamato said, to which both Nagi and Mitsuki nodded in reply. 

The three then moved further down the alley, taking the longer way to their destination, the last hole in the wall. “I hope Iori and Tenn are doing better than we are, I haven’t seen them at all since before the battle started.” Mitsuki said after a while. Nagi gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m sure they’re fine, the fact that we haven’t seen them might mean they found something.” He suggested. 

“Nagi’s right, Ichi will be fine, and I’m sure he and Nanase Tenn will find Riku too.” Yamato agreed as he reassuringly patted Mitsuki’s back. The shorter man smiled back up at both of his friends in appreciation. “You’re right, thanks!” He said, then Nagi and Yamato nodded at him before the three continued onwards to finish their job and resume fighting, after all, even if everything went as planned and Iori and Tenn found Riku, they’d still have to win this battle. 

A part of Iori regretted that he had sent Tenn to go after Tsukumo and Riku by himself, he wanted nothing more than to go after them and make sure Riku would be okay. However, he knew very well that he’d just slow them down if he did go, judging by the pulsating pain in his side, also, it might be bad if they didn’t stop the bleeding soon. 

“We have to find something to stop the bleeding with.” Iori heard Kinako say from the side. He looked over and stared at her in awe. This little girl that was only around five years old knew exactly what to do, and it scared him. She looked determined and strong, despite the tears still running down her cheeks, her voice was quiet and shook a bit, and yet it sounded way more mature than what should be possible for someone her age. 

“Okay!” Kinako suddenly exclaimed as she stood up and dried her tears. Iori looked at her with a shocked expression as she then ran off around the corner. He reached out a hand and was about to call for her, but then he thought that it was probably better if she left, she shouldn’t have to see things like this, after all. He sighed and leaned back against the wall. 

Then, just as he was about to try and stand up in order to find someone who could help him, Kinako came back, holding a white sheet in her arms. Iori gasped as she almost tripped on part of the sheet that was hanging down, she was so short that she almost dragged the fabric rather than carrying it. “Pull up your shirt so I can wrap this around you to stop the bleeding.” She ordered as she reached him. 

Iori was once again lost for words, this little girl he had only seen once before, and never really spoken to, had just run off to find clean sheets for him to use to treat his wound. Soon, Iori regained his composure, or at least as much as he could while still being in so much pain. “Thank you for getting this, I can take care of it myself from here.” He said, offering her a gentle smile in return. 

Kinako pouted and huffed. “Nope! I’ll help you! You’re hurt, so you shouldn’t move!” Was all she said as she knelt down and pulled up Iori’s shirt by herself. Iori winced but was in no position to stop her. “You shouldn’t have to do something like this, you should hurry up and get somewhere safe.” He managed to get out. 

“It’s fine.” Kinako said stubbornly as she started wrapping the sheet around Iori’s midriff. Iori sighed. “You’re just a kid, you shouldn’t have to do something like this.” He then said. This time, Kinako looked up at him, once again pouting, and despite the pain he felt, Iori couldn’t help but to find her awfully cute. “I said it’s fine!” She exclaimed. 

Iori winced as she pulled extra hard on the sheet now wrapped around him. “Sorry…” She muttered out quietly as she started tying the two ends of the sheet together to keep it in place. “Why are you so insistent on helping me?” Iori then asked. 

Kinako looked up at him and smiled sadly. “Because Riku would be sad if you died. I know how sad it is to lose the people you love, to lose your family, I don’t want him to lose his family too.” She said. Iori’s heart ached for the little girl, he understood now why Riku had decided to help her in the past, he too wanted to just wrap her up in his arms and make sure nothing bad happened to her ever again. 

Kinako kept talking. “Riku was kind to me, despite me doing something horrible to him… I know we only met twice, but I really like him, and I don’t want him to be sad.” She said, this time she started crying. Iori reached out and ran his fingers through her dirty and tangled hair. “Thank you.” He whispered. Kinako just nodded and leaned into his touch. 

“Well,” Iori started, making Kinako look at him curiously. “I can’t stay here, I need to find some kind of doctor. Will you come with me?” He asked. Kinako dried her tears and replaced her sad expression with one of determination as she stood up and nodded. Iori then pushed himself up, which was a lot harder due to the pain, and then held out a hand to Kinako. She took it quickly and then the two slowly started walking, looking for someone who could help them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was that! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! ^^ Now, about the next chapters. I'll be leaving on a trip on monday and be gone for two weeks, during these two weeks I won't have access to my computer (where I have all the chapters stored) and I'll only have access to wifi during the second week. Because of this, I will be posting two chapters this weekend, I'll post the next chapter on Friday and the last chapter on Sunday! I'll do this so that you won't have to wait two entire weeks for the final chapter! ^^ You may also notice that there's still one chapter left, and that's because I've also written an epilogue, so while the chapter I upload on Sunday is the final proper chapter, there is still more to come. The epilogue will be uploaded as soon as I get back from my trip, so be a bit patient with that. I hope all of you will be okay with this, but I've decided that this was the best way to do this.  
> Now that I've said that I would once again like to thank all of you who support this story in any way, it means the world to me! <3<3<3


	54. The Battle Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tenn follows Tsukumo and Riku in order to save his brother and try to end this once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with the new update! It feels really weird to do this on a Friday, I guess I really got used to the schedule I used... I'm quite excited about this chapter as I actually had a hard time writing it, I rewrote it at least ten times... But in the end I was happy with how it turned out! ^^ I hope you guys will enjoy it, and with that said, go on and read!  
> If you have any questions or want to talk to me you can find me either on Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on Twitter: @EFagerhag

The moment Tsukumo let go of him, Riku collapsed onto the ground, he was breathing hard and tears were running down his cheeks. No matter how hard he tried, Riku couldn’t get the image of Iori laying on the ground, covered in blood, out of his mind. “Get up!” Tsukumo roared angrily, but Riku didn’t react at all, he had no energy left to do anything.

“I said, get up!” Tsukumo yelled again, this time grabbing Riku’s arm and pulling him up. Riku’s breath got caught in his throat for a second as he was yanked up, and he stumbled once he stood, his legs being too wobbly to keep him up properly. “Walk!” Tsukumo then commanded, but Riku ignored him. 

“I’m in a hurry, so you’re going to start walking right now.” He then gritted out, sounding angry. Normally, Riku would have been scared and done as he said, but he found he just didn’t care right now. Besides, even if he wanted to, he doubted he would have the strength to walk as far and as fast as Tsukumo wanted him to. Because of this, Riku simply shook his head, refusing to both talk to and look at the older man. 

By now, Tsukumo was starting to look really angry, he lifted his hand in a way that Riku assumed was to hit him, but before he made contact, he stopped. Riku looked at Tsukumo’s face for the first time since he had fired that gun and saw a mix of irritation and exhaustion. Tsukumo had stopped because he noticed Riku’s shaking legs and the way the young boy was leaning against the wall for support, figuring that he probably couldn’t walk in his current state, rather than not wanting to. 

Tsukumo sighed as he once again picked up Riku, threw him over his shoulder and carried him as he kept walking. Riku struggled for a little bit, but he really didn’t feel like he had the energy to even keep that up for long. “Let me go…” He choked out between sobs. Tsukumo chuckled. “Yeah, right. Sorry to break it to you, but you’ll be staying with me for a while.” He then said arrogantly. 

Hearing that made Riku tense up. “Why? You said you needed me as insurance, so surely you could just let me go once you’re finished here!” He exclaimed. Tsukumo stopped and put Riku down again, then he placed both of his hands against the wall by Riku’s head, trapping him there. “Oh, I’m not done for a long time. And even if this was the final step of my plan, I think I’d like to keep you for a bit longer. Like I said before, I’m interested in you.” He said with a smirk that sent shivers down Riku’s spine. 

Riku glared at Tsukumo to the best of his abilities. “And what makes you think I’d actually stay?” He asked angrily. Tsukumo just kept smiling down at him. “Then I’ll just have to take it all away, make sure that you’d have nothing to come back to. I already got rid of that precious husband of yours, next up I’ll do away with your brother, your friends, everyone and everything you ever cared for. There’ll be nothing left in this world for you but me.” He said, a crazed look in his eyes. 

Riku looked at him in disbelief, as if he was crazy. “You’re sick!” He told him, making Tsukumo frown. The older pushed himself away from the wall, and away from Riku, he then paced around for a few seconds before turning back around, facing the redhead while looking furious. “It’s this world that is sick!” He yelled out angrily, and Riku couldn't help but wonder just what the older man had experienced in order for him to feel that way about the world. 

“Tsukumo!” Someone then shouted loudly and angrily from afar. Both Riku and Tsukumo quickly snapped their heads around as they heard it, Tsukumo frowning and Riku smiling in relief as they saw who it was that was approaching them. “Tenn-nii!” Riku exclaimed before he let out a yelp as he was yanked up by Tsukumo who started pulling him down the street, further away from Tenn. 

The moment Tenn saw them starting to move away, he sped up and quickly followed after the two of them. They had still been pretty far away when he spotted them, but as they were moving, he was getting closer and closer. Under normal circumstances, Tsukumo would have probably been faster than him, but dragging Riku behind him must be slowing him down significantly, thus allowing Tenn to catch up rather easily. 

As he was being dragged, Riku noticed Tsukumo struggling to get away and his brother getting even closer by the second. Because of this, he did whatever he could to slow Tsukumo down, he kicked and punched and pushed, suddenly feeling his fighting spirit come back to him. “You brat, stay still!” Tsukumo shouted as he hoisted Riku up higher. 

Riku gave another kick and started pulling on the older man’s jacket. “You know, you could probably manage to escape if you just let me go already!” He grunted out as he kept struggling in Tsukumo’s hold, who in return scoffed. “Sorry, but that would basically be me admitting defeat, and I don’t do defeat. Too bad, you won’t be getting away that easily.” He replied. 

Tsukumo kept on running, Riku kept struggling and Tenn kept following. That is, until Tsukumo realized that he really wouldn’t be able to outrun Riku's older twin brother any time soon. “If I can’t outrun him, I’ll just have to fight him. Congratulations, I guess you’ll be witnessing the end of your brother earlier than expected.” He told Riku with a smirk, whose eyes widened in return. 

Riku felt his stomach sink at those words and the image of Iori just before he had been taken away came right back to him. “No, don’t you dare!” He yelled out as he once again tried to kick and push the other man away. 

Tsukumo just chuckled and decided to head into the nearest building, in which he planned to take care of what needed to be done. The building just so happened to be a church. Once inside, Tsukumo took to the stairs and didn’t stop until he and Riku were at the top floor. He threw the younger boy to the ground and made quick work of tying his hands to one of the pillars in the room before turning around so that he was facing the stairs. They could both hear footsteps rushing up, undoubtedly belonging to Tenn. 

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the older of the twins could be seen running up the stairs. As he came to a stop in the room where Tsukumo had chosen to wait, he was panting hard from the running while also glaring at the older man in front of him. “Let's put an end to this quickly, shall we?” Tsukumo said, disdain dripping from his voice, his expression serious and hostile. 

Tenn took a deep breath as he drew his sword, his eyes never once leaving Tsukumo, watching his every movement. “I’d like nothing more.” He answered, glaring hard at the man that was stood in front of him, the man that had caused all this trouble, the man that was now standing between Tenn and Riku. 

Riku looked nervously back and forth between the two, he had seen his brother fight before, he used to practice outside in their garden all the time, so he knew that he was good with the blade. However, he suspected that Tsukumo wasn’t bad either, despite not having seen him in an actual fight before. Riku couldn’t stand the thought of losing Tenn, not after everything else that had happened that day, he felt like Tenn was everything he had left. 

Tsukumo made the first move, swiftly moving forward and swinging his own blade down where Tenn was stood. Tenn in turn quickly and elegantly moved out of the way. Riku was nervous, confused and in awe as he watched this. Scared that something was going to happen to Tenn, confused about their different movements, and awed at how elegant his brother still looked while doing what he was currently doing. 

Tenn avoided yet another swing of Tsukumo’s blade, and then it was finally his turn to make his first real move. He spun around one of the columns in the room, after which he immediately approached his opponent, who just barely managed to dodge, cursing as he did so. 

Tsukumo moved in again, and this time Tenn managed to block him. Tsukumo used his full strength to push the smaller boy away, making him stumble to the ground, knocking over some crates in the meantime. Tenn was about to get up but got distracted when he heard a yelp from the other end of the room. His head snapped around to look at the source, which was Riku, only to see that some of the crates he had accidentally knocked over had fallen in such a way that they had almost crushed his brother. However, he did seem to be fine, so Tenn promptly directed his attention back to Tsukumo. 

Too bad for him though, the older man had taken advantage of his distress and was standing right before him when Tenn turned back around. “Shit!” Tenn exclaimed as he brought his sword out to block the attack. He was just a bit too late however, as his move did not block it fully, it simply redirected it. 

“Tenn-nii!” Riku called out in fear and desperation when he saw Tsukumo’s sword so close to his brother’s face. Tenn hissed as he felt the blade cut into his cheek, the wound wasn’t very deep, but it did still hurt and made him distracted for a few seconds. Sadly, those few seconds was all Tsukumo needed to take the advantage. He kicked at the younger boy, making him lose his grip on his sword. Tenn was now unarmed and Tsukumo was standing just about a meter away, pointing his sharp blade at the middle of his chest. 

Tenn breathed heavily as he slowly crawled back, still glaring daggers at his opponent. “Looks like it’s my win. Goodbye, Nanase Tenn.” Tsukumo said, a smirk on his lips as he prepared to plunge his sword into Tenn’s chest. But just as he did so, Tenn grabbed one of the small crates from the ground and threw it at him. It hit Tsukumo on the shoulder, making him lose his balance for a few moments. Tenn used these few seconds to stand up and distance himself, he had initially wanted to grab his weapon, but it had been too far away for him to reach it in time. 

Tsukumo soon regained his senses and glared at Tenn, who had backed so far away that he was now stood with his back against the wall, the windowsill pressing into his back uncomfortably. He gulped as Tsukumo slowly started walking closer. “You little brat. I’ll end you, I’ll end it all. You could never defeat me, you could never save your brother, it’s sad that you thought for even a second that you had a chance.” He said, his voice full of anger. 

Tenn started fiddling with something behind his back, trying to be as silent and discreet as possible as to not alert Tsukumo of his plan, which was admittedly lacking in a lot of aspects, but he had nothing else at the moment. Riku watched their exchange closely, tears running down his face and fear overtaking his entire being. 

That was when it happened, that was when Tsukumo made his move, lunging forward, ready to kill Tenn right were he stood. He let out a fierce battlecry as he did, sending shivers down both Riku and Tenn’s spines. It wasn’t until the last moment that Tenn moved away from Tsukumo’s attack, he just barely managed to avoid it. Tsukumo however, had fallen straight into Tenn’s trap. 

He had moved forward with such speed and power that when he collided with the window that Tenn had somehow manage to get open behind his back, it opened fully and Tsukumo fell right out of it. The older man screamed, but just a few seconds later everything turned silent. 

Tenn was panting as he stood up on shaking legs, and carefully made his way over to the opened window. He looked out of it and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the state of his opponent on the ground below him. He was now secretly happy that Tsukumo had chosen to flee to the top floor of the church. There was simply no chance that anyone would survive a fall from that height. 

Tenn then quickly made his way over to his brother and pulled him into his arms. “Is it over?” Riku asked, his voice trembling. “Yes. Yes, it is. It’s finally over.” Tenn whispered to the younger. He then let go of Riku in order to undo his bindings, after which Riku immediately wrapped his arms tightly around his brother’s shoulders. He started crying, overwhelmed after everything that had just happened, feelings of relief and dread both taking over his entire being. 

“Tenn-nii… Iori, he… Oh my god…” He sobbed into his brother’s shoulder. That was when Tenn realized what Riku must be thinking, he just knew that Iori had been shot, but nothing about what had happened afterwards. Tenn started slowly stroking Riku’s hair as he was trying to calm him down. “Shh, it’s okay. Everything’s okay.” He whispered. 

“No… It’s not, Iori, he’s…” Riku managed to get out between sobs. Tenn the pushed his brother away, only to instead reach out and caress both of his cheeks while giving him a gentle smile. “It’s okay. Iori’s not dead. He was shot, yes, but he’s alive.” Tenn told him. 

Riku’s eyes widened at this revelation. “You mean… Iori’s still...? He’s not dead?” Riku asked in disbelief. Tenn smiled and nodded. Riku gasped and fresh tears started running down his face, which Tenn immediately started wiping away. This time though, Riku was crying from happiness. “I want to see him.” He said, looking his brother straight in the eyes. “I want to go see Iori.” 

Tenn smiled and wiped away the last of Riku’s tears before nodding. “Okay.” Was all he said, and then the two brothers were off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did you like that? Tsukumo is finally gone, man I hated him at the end, and I was the one writing him like that... (I mean, I hate him in canon too, but you have to admit that he makes a great villian) I've never really tried to make a proper fight scene before, so that was really challenging for me, I hope you think it turned out good! I'll be back with the next chapter (The last chapter >.<) on Sunday, so look forward to that! I don't have a date for when I'll be posting the epilogue yet since I'm not sure when I'll be back from my trip, but it'll be out around two weeks from now! ^^  
> Thank you so much for reading, and an even bigger thank you to those who leaves kudos, comments or who supports me and this fic in any way! I love you all! <3<3<3


	55. The End (?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the death of Tsukumo, Tenn and Riku go looking for Iori.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then, it's Sunday, so here I am with the final chapter (not counting the epilogue) of "The Vows We Swore to Uphold." And man, what a ride it's been! I started this project last december, I posted the first chapter on the 1st of january and now I'm ending it, six months later, on the last day of june. I won't say too much now, I'll have some more to say at the very end, but please, do enjoy this final chapter of this fanfic! ^^  
> If you have any questions, or if you want to talk to me about this fanfic, IDOLiSH7, ioriku or anything really, you can contact me either on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on my Twitter: @EFagerhag

It took a surprisingly short amount of time before the news about Tsukumo Ryou’s death spread throughout Northmeir. Not even fifteen minutes had passed since Riku and Tenn had left the church, and already Tsukumo’s people were drawing back due to what had transpired. Soon, they reached the alleyway where Iori had been shot, only to find it empty. Riku started panicking upon seeing this, but Tenn quickly calmed him down. “If he’s not here, that must mean he’s well enough to move around. Don’t worry, we’ll find him.” Tenn said to reassure his brother, and Riku gave him a bittersweet smile in return.

“But where do we even start looking? This city is huge!” Riku complained impatiently. Tenn thought for a while before coming up with an answer. “While I can’t say for sure where he went, I can still speculate. If I were the one who had gotten injured, I would either try and head towards were Osaka Sougo and Yotsuba Tamaki are, considering they’re dealing with the evacuation, they’re bound to have some sort of doctor around, just in case. But he might have headed towards the medical tents near the main entrance as well, it’s closer to this alley, but it’s also closer to the actual battle, meaning there's more of a risk in going there.” Tenn explained. 

Riku nodded, trying to think of where Iori was most likely to go. However, before he managed to reach a proper answer, Tenn seemed to have come up with his own idea. “I think it would be wiser to head to the medical tents first, we’ll check for Izumi Iori there, and I would also like to try and find Gaku and Ryuu, they need to know what happened with Tsukumo.” He said. Riku agreed that they needed to alert people about what had happened, and there was also a chance that Iori had gone there too. 

And so, without arguing about it, the twins made their way through the streets, trying to find their way to the medical tents and the heart of the still raging battle. 

Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, Iori could see what he had been looking for, the evacuation site. The pain in his side had made the walk there much slower than he would have liked, and he’d been close to falling over on multiple occasions. The moment he saw the facilities where Sougo and Tamaki were supposed to have moved the citizens to, he let out a huge sigh of relief. 

Originally, Iori had been planning on going to the medical tent, they would have more experienced doctors there and it would be a lot closer, after all. However, he had decided against it when he remembered his companion. He didn’t want to bring Kinako any closer to potential danger than she already was, and so, with the small girl in tow, he had been walking the long way towards the evacuation site. And they had finally arrived. 

Just then, Iori’s foot got caught on a crack in the road, which caused him to stumble and fall to the ground. He groaned in pain at the impact and breathed heavily as he tried to collect himself. Kinako was right by his side, looking worried. “Isn’t there anything I can do to help? Anything at all?” She asked. Iori sat up and looked between her and the evacuation site. 

Iori thought for a while, but since they were so close now, it would probably be fine to let her do something, so he looked at her and nodded. “You see that big gate over there?” He asked and pointed to the evacuation site. Kinako nodded. “I want you to go there and ask for Yotsuba Tamaki or Osaka Sougo. They should be there, and if not, try and find some guard and ask them to come and help.” He explained. “Okay!” Kinako exclaimed before dashing off, a determined look on her face. 

Since he had sent Kinako to get some help, Iori decided to rest for a few minutes on the ground. The pain was getting worse, but he wasn’t bleeding as much as he had expected, he guessed it was partly due to the cloth they had tied around his midriff, and partly due to the bullet still being inside him, stopping some of the blood flow. 

Soon, Kinako came back, three people running beside her. The first one he had expected, it was Tamaki, but he was quite shocked to see who else followed behind Kinako. “Iori! Oh my god, what happened to you?” A woman called out to him, it was Iori’s mother. The last person accompanying Kinako was Iori’s father, who didn’t say anything, he just helped Iori stand up with a concerned expression on his face. 

“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?” He asked in confusion. “We were here on business, but never mind that, you need to get medical help!” Madame Izumi exclaimed, clearly shaken up from seeing her son in such a state. Iori nodded and he was then helped inside by his father and Tamaki. Madame Izumi walked behind them, holding onto Kinako so that the little girl wouldn’t get lost in all the commotion. 

Iori was quickly taken in to see a doctor, who wasted no time in getting the bullet out before cleaning the wound, giving him stitches and redressing it. Iori was also given something to help with the pain while he was told that everything should be fine as long as he took it easy for a few days and made sure to keep the wound clean. He had been lucky that nothing of importance had been damaged. 

Now that he had gotten that taken care of, Iori wanted nothing more than to head outside in order to go looking for Riku. However, he had immediately been stopped from doing so, seeing as he had just been shot. And so, he was sat down in the corner of the room they were currently in, his parents nearby and Kinako snuggled up next to him, asleep at his side. He looked down at the slumbering girl and smiled at the sight of her clinging onto his arm, she must have been exhausted after everything she had been through that day. But still, he couldn’t stop worrying about Riku, he just hoped Tenn had been able to do something about Tsukumo Ryou. 

Riku and Tenn had initially been shocked upon their arrival to the medical tent, they’d expected to see an ongoing battle all around them, but what they found was only the aftermath of said battle. Riku soon spotted a familiar face and wasted no time in calling out to him. “Mitsuki!” He yelled and the smaller man turned around, his eyes widening as he saw Riku approaching. 

“Riku!” Mitsuki exclaimed, his expression changing into one of relief. He rushed over to greet the younger boy and pulled him in for a hug the moment they were close enough. “Oh my god, I’m so glad to see that you’re okay.” He said. Riku smiled and returned Mitsuki’s embrace. “I’m glad to see you too.” He said. 

They soon pulled apart, which was when Tenn joined in. “What happened here? Is the battle over?” He asked. Mitsuki nodded, but his face showed mixed emotions. “Someone started shouting about how Tsukumo Ryou was dead, that it was all over, after that the enemy just started pulling back. Do you know if it's true? Is Tsukumo really dead?” Mitsuki asked. Tenn and Riku looked at each other before nodding, confirming the state of Tsukumo Ryou. 

“I see…” Mitsuki started. “Nagi and Yamato led some men to try and follow the remaining members of Tsukumo’s people, but I think they’ll return soon.” Mitsuki explained. “What about Gaku? And Ryuu?” Tenn asked, sounding slightly worried which Riku assumed his brother wouldn’t appreciate him pointing out. “They should be around here somewhere, I’m sure you’ll find them easily enough.” Mitsuki answered. 

Tenn nodded, patted Riku’s shoulder and gave him a look that told him that he’d be going on ahead before walking away, looking for his friends. Riku then turned back to Mitsuki. “Have you seen Iori anywhere?” He then asked worriedly. 

Mitsuki raised an eyebrow in question upon hearing Riku’s question. “No? But shouldn’t he be with you? He was supposed to be looking for you with Tenn.” Mitsuki said confused. Riku looked down on the ground, a guilty expression on his face. “He was, but Tsukumo… He shot him.” Riku said, his voice trembling. 

Mitsuki’s eyes widened. “What?” He asked. “I thought he was dead, but then Tenn-nii told me he was fine, and we thought he might have gone here, you know, because the medical tents are here, so I thought maybe you’d seen him.” He explained. Mitsuki took a few seconds to process this new information, worry bubbling up inside his chest. 

“Okay, well, he’s not here. Where else could he have gone?” The shorter man asked, sounding really shaken up by the news. “Tenn-nii pointed out how he could have also gone to the evacuation site, they are sure to have some medics there. It was further away from where it happened, but I suppose it would be safer to go there, considering that the battle was still going on at the time...” Riku said. 

Mitsuki nodded, then he went over to talk to some important looking man. When he came back, he grabbed Riku’s wrist and started pulling him the other way. “Mitsuki-san?” Riku questioned. “We’re going to find Iori, you want to come along, right?” He asked as he turned to look at the redhead. Riku bore a determined expression as he nodded in agreement, and so the two were off. 

It took Riku and Mitsuki longer to find the evacuation site than they would have liked, but they were finally there. They were let in immediately, and the second they came in they were met by a familiar face. “Ricchan! Mikki!” Tamaki exclaimed as he saw them. Riku and Mitsuki smiled and walked up to him. 

“Tamaki, is Iori here?” The two asked in sync. Tamaki blinked before he nodded and pointed over to a corner in the room. Mitsuki immediately dashed off in that direction, and Riku was about to do the same when he felt someone grab his arm. He turned around and looked at Tamaki. “Ah, sorry Ricchan, I get that you really want to see Iorin, but are you okay? Do you need a doctor? And what happened with Tsukumo?” He asked worriedly. 

Riku smiled at Tamaki, glad that he seemed so concerned. “I’m okay, and everything with Tsukumo is over, he’s dead, the battle is finished.” He explained simply. Tamaki’s eyes widened and then he smiled brightly. “Really?! I have to find Sou-chan and tell him!” Tamaki exclaimed happily as he ran off. 

Riku then turned around and started walking in the direction he believed Mitsuki had run off to earlier. It didn’t take him long to find what he had been looking for. 

Riku stopped in his tracks as he looked over at Iori, who was currently being hugged by Mitsuki. He could also see Kinako asleep against the wall, and was that Mister and Madame Izumi? It was at that point that Iori looked up and their eyes met. Riku took a deep, yet shaky breath as the look Iori was giving him sent shivers down his spine. He started walking towards them, and he saw Iori push Mitsuki away, their eyes never once broke the contact as they walked up to each other. 

Riku suddenly felt really overwhelmed now that he saw Iori, and he felt the tears spilling from his eyes as he ran the last bit of the distance that separated them. The moment Iori was close enough, Riku threw his arms around his neck and buried his face in his shoulder, letting his tears soak the material of Iori’s shirt. Iori immediately returned the embrace, he too shedding tears as the relief of finally being reunited hit him. 

The moment broke once Riku noticed Iori flinching slightly in what appeared to be pain and was thus reminded of the injury. He pulled away and wiped his tears before giving Iori a worried look. “Oh shit, your injury! How is it? Is it really bad? Can I do anything to help?” He asked in a panic. Iori just smiled and took ahold of Riku’s shoulders to calm him down. “Hey, calm down. It’s not that bad, really.” He said reassuringly. 

Riku looked up at Iori. “Not that bad? I thought you were dead! I thought I’d lost you, that I would never see you again! You… you can’t just do that! Do you have any idea how scared I was? I couldn’t bear it if you died, I wouldn’t know what to do! Do you get it?! You’re not allowed to leave me!” He yelled out, catching the attention of basically everyone around them. 

Iori looked around shyly, not sure how he felt about their audience. However, he realized he should try and focus on calming Riku down for now. “Riku, listen to me.” He started as he grabbed Riku’s face and made the other boy look him straight in the eyes. “I’m not dead. I’m right here, and I have no intention of leaving you. Ever.” He said confidently. 

Riku lost it right then and there. He started sobbing loudly and once again buried his face in Iori’s shirt. Iori in turn wrapped his arms securely around the other’s shaking frame before he slowly lowered the two of them to sit on the floor in order to make things a little bit easier on himself. “Everything’s okay. I’m here, you’ll be fine.” Iori whispered as he slowly rocked Riku back and forth. 

Iori kept holding Riku close, even after the other boy had calmed down. “I’m so sorry.” Iori then said quietly after a few minutes of silence. Riku pulled away just a tiny bit in order to look up at Iori. “Why are you sorry?” He asked, confused as to what Iori was apologizing about. “Because I should have been there to help you, because I didn’t even notice when you went missing, because I didn’t protect you, because I…” He trailed off towards the end. 

Riku looked at the raven-haired boy in disbelief. “No, no, no. You can’t blame yourself for that! You’ve always told me how I’m not a burden, how you don’t mind taking care of me, then let me tell you now. You haven’t done anything wrong, anything that needs apologizing for.” Riku said, and then he smiled. “Thank you.” He then said, making Iori’s eyes widen as he looked down at Riku’s bright smile. “Thank you for not giving up on me.” 

That was it, that one sentence broke Izumi Iori. He blinked down at the redhead for a few seconds, but then he couldn’t hold himself back anymore. So, without a single care for where they were or whoever was watching them, Iori leaned down to capture Riku’s lips in a kiss. 

Riku was taken aback to say the least, but he still returned the kiss with a passion. They held each other close as their lips stayed locked together for a few more minutes before they pulled away. Iori leaned in again, but this time he simply let his forehead lean against Riku’s own, he then smiled before he whispered to him. “I will never give up on you. I promise.” 

Riku smiled back, just as bright, making Iori’s heart melt. “And neither will I!” 

And so, this particular part of the story comes to an end. But even though the story has been told, it doesn’t mean that there’s nothing more to come. Because the lives of the characters always continue, even after the stories are finished. So then you might find yourself asking, what happened to them after the end? Not to worry, I won’t leave you without any answers. 

Gaku, Ryuunosuke and Tenn spent the next six months hunting down the reminders of the Tsukumo group, making sure that there are no remnants left to revive it sometime in the future. It was long and hard work, considering just how many people Tsukumo Ryou had managed to recruit. But in the end, it payed off, and peace returned to both Myronia and Pandragora. 

Nagi and Gaku helped reestablish the trust between Pandragora and Myronia, and the two countries were now more connected than they had ever been since they split apart into two different kingdoms. Both countries were prospering, mostly due to the efforts of the two princes. 

Yamato had traveled back to Myronia and convinced Yuki, Momo and Banri to go on a tour with him. Together with other entertainers, these four traveled the world, bringing joy to peoples’ lives as they did so. The gathering of both Myronian and Pandragoran performers traveling all throughout the two countries really sent a message that the world was unified. 

Sougo had managed to gather the proof that he needed to show his father’s involvement in Tsukumo’s crimes and had successfully been able to place him behind bars. He had then, together with Tamaki and some other of his father’s old employees who had all proven to be trustworthy, completely taken over his father’s trading business. So, while he was now a lot more busy with all the new workload, he had managed to establish a secure and effective market which everyone relied heavily upon. 

Mister and Madame Izumi had, at the time of the boys’ reunion, found out the truth about Riku’s gender. And while they had been extremely shocked at first, after several hours of explanation and pleading from both Iori, Riku and Mitsuki, they had accepted the fact that Riku was a man. They had done nothing to separate the two, in fact, once they had fully come to terms with it, they encouraged Riku to stop pretending for good, they didn’t want him to have to hide behind the disguise and the lies anymore. 

Mister and Madame Nanase had undoubtedly heard about this development but had decided not to comment on it. In fact, Riku had not heard anything from his parents since they had left his and Iori’s wedding, which might have been for the best. 

Mitsuki had resumed his work in the family business and had since then managed to open three new restaurants/bakeries in Myronia. Though he did have a little help from his new Myronian contacts. (Which mainly consisted of Ryuunosuke and Momo) In other words, he was doing extremely well for himself. 

Iori’s injury had long since healed up, and he was once again perfectly healthy. He and Riku had, after the whole ordeal, mostly just taken some time to relax until Iori had fully healed. They had then traveled back to Northmeir, but this time they hadn’t gone there for work, neither was it for pleasure. When they returned home from the capital, they did so with a new addition to the family. They had, after many long conversations, decided to take in the little girl they had met there. And so, with the approval of Mister and Madame Izumi, they had traveled to Northmeir in order to officially adopt Kinako. 

The three were living in the Izumi family’s mansion, but they had started to look into getting their own home. Things were peaceful, and despite the circumstances that had brought them together not having been the best, Iori and Riku were currently in a very good place. And if Tenn used every excuse he could find to travel to Pandragora in order to visit his brother, no one dared comment on it. 

So, like I stated before, this part of the story has now come to an end. But just because this part has ended doesn’t mean the story is truly finished yet. Because who knows what might happen in the future? Who knows in what way the world will advance? No one can say for sure that there won’t be more problems in the future. So, I won’t say that this is the end of the story, but simply the end of this chapter in the story. It’s the end of ‘The Vows We Swore to Uphold’, but it’s not the end for this world and it’s people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, I don't really know what to say... What are you supposed to say in these situations? I'll just ramble on I guess... ^^ I first got the idea for this fanfic last october, while I was watching an ad on instagram. At first, I just kinda thought it could be an interesting concept, but I had no plans of actually writing a fanfic about it. However, the idea of an arranged marriage ioriki fanfic stuck with me, and every once in a while I would come back to the idea. Then, during my christmas break last year, I finally had the motivation to start writing. I posted the prologue on the 1st of january, and the first proper chapter the day after. Ever since then, I've kept it up, posting a new chapter every Wednesday and Saturday (except for this weekend) for HALF A YEAR!!! (Which is kinda crazy!)  
> When I first thought of this, I had no idea it was going to be this long, and I certainly didn't expect it to be this well liked by all of you who have read it! I can not express how truly grateful I feel for all the support I and this fanfic have recieved during these past 6 months. The only thing I can really say is this: Thank you. Thank you all so much for all the support, for all the encouragement, all the comments, kudos, bookmarks, messages and even fanart(!!!). I am so happy for all of this, and I love you all to the moon and back! <3<3  
> As I kind of hinted at the very end there, I don't really consider this the end for this universe, and I'm not just thinking about the epilogue. (which will be out in about two weeks once I return home from my trip!) Sometime in the future, I do want to return to this, I have three or four things that I wanted to include in this story, but that I never really got the chance to. And so, I will probably (but no promises) return and write more for this universe in the future! When that will be, and how big those possible projects will be, I cannot say for now, as I currently have no plans for them. I can't say if they will just be oneshots, or if I'll make another multi-chaptered story that takes place in this world, but I really believe that I will write more for it! I, more than anyone, really fell in love with this world, with Myronia and Pandragora, with this setting and with the characters as they are in this fanfic.  
> With that said, I will once again thank all of you so so so much! Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this final chapter, as well as the rest of this story! Thank you for all the support, it really, really, really means everything to me as the writer, and I can't say this enough! I'll be back in two weeks for the epilogue (Which will be super fluffy and cute!!!) and if you'd like, you can check out my other works in the meantime! I have one finished fanfic called "Did You Order Some Company?" And one ongoing called "Our Life Together". They are both ioriku, so if you want to, and haven't already, feel free to read those as well!  
> That was all from me for this time, I hope you all have a wonderful morning/day/evening, and I will see you again in two weeks with the (real) final installment to this story! <3<3<3


	56. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few months has passed since the battle ended, and the a certain event is about to take place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have returned from my trip (which was lots of fun btw) and that means that it's FINALLY time for the last chapter, the epilogue, of "The Vows We Swore to Uphold"! And man, what a journey this has been. I said a lot at the end of the last chapter, and I don't want to repeat too much, but I am so happy with this fanfic! I'm really proud of myself for finishing this, it's probably the biggest project I've ever worked on and I am still kind of in disbelief that I actually finished it. I'm also so happy with all the support I've recieved, it really has made this fanfic worth writing.  
> With that said, please enjoy the epilogue, as it is the final installment of "The Vows We Swore to Uphold"! If you have any questions, or if you want to talk to me about this fanfic, ioriku, IDOLiSH7 or something else in general, just hit me up either on my Tumblr: efagerhag.tumblr.com or on my Twitter: @EFagerhag

_A few months later._

Everything was chaotic, people were running around, there was constantly something that needed to be done and they were running out of time. Everywhere you looked you saw a battlefield, and there didn’t seem to be any end to it in sight. This was never something that was supposed to be this chaotic and stressful, but here they were, right in the middle of it. 

Riku sighed as he put the last bouquet in its vase and with that, he had finally finished decorating the tables outside in the garden. It was the one-year anniversary for his and Iori’s wedding, wasn’t he supposed to enjoy it? It had been Madame Izumi’s suggestion that they do a big celebration, since initially, Iori and Riku had planned to just do a small and simple celebration while only inviting the closest family and friends, after which they had planned to go on a short trip together, just the two of them (and maybe Kinako). But Madame Izumi had insisted, and so, Iori and Riku agreed to do it her way. 

Riku had been really excited for it at first, he had never really helped planning and preparing for a big event like this before, so he was happy to help with anything he could. At least, he was happy and excited about it until he realized just how much work went into big celebrations like this one. There was always something that needed to be done, things went wrong so they had to come up with something new, and there was just constant chaos. But, in the end he was still really excited for the actual event. 

However, today was their anniversary, the guests could start arriving any minute now, and they were not finished yet. He was also a bit cranky because he hadn’t seen Iori all day. It was their one-year anniversary, and they hadn’t even said good morning yet? Riku had woken up to an empty bed that morning, which he was honestly a bit disappointed by. Apparently, Iori had some sort of important errand to run, and he had needed to leave early to get it done in time. At least, that’s what Mitsuki had told Riku earlier that day. 

“Riku! Riku!” A light voice called out. Riku turned around and saw Kinako running up to him. He smiled fondly at the scene, she had really perked up in the last couple of months and that made him really happy. It had now been seven months since he and Iori signed the papers that made them her legal guardians and Riku was so glad that they had decided to do so. She looked both happier and healthier for every day that passed, she also seemed to have gotten used to her new life. 

Kinako stopped in front of Riku and bounced on her feet as she looked up at him. “Riku! Ah! I mean… Papa?” She said hesitantly. Riku chuckled as he knelt down and patted her head. “It’s okay, you don’t have to force yourself to say it. Just take it in your own time, okay Kinako?” He said with a reassuring smile. Kinako pouted, but her eyes gleamed with joy. “But I want to say it!” She said determinedly. 

Riku smiled again. “Okay, that’s fine too. It makes me really happy when you call me that, I just don’t want you to fell uncomfortable.” He said. “I don’t! I promise papa!” Kinako responded with the biggest smile Riku had ever seen. 

“So, what did you want?” Riku then asked, assuming she had run up to him for a reason other than to just call him 'Papa'. “Oh, that’s right!” She exclaimed before she reached into a small pocket in her light green dress and pulled something out. “The bow in my hair came undone, can you help me put it back?” She asked, looking up at Riku with big eyes. 

Riku melted at the sight, grabbed the bow and motioned for her to turn around so that he could help her fix it. Normally, it would be Iori who helped her with her hair, they had soon discovered that Iori was really good at it, and it was also a great chance for the two of them to bond. Riku had never had any problem getting along with Kinako, but Iori had been really awkward in the beginning, so those moments when he did her hair really meant a lot to both of them. 

But, as previously stated, Iori wasn’t there right now, so Riku had to do it himself. “There we go! It’s not as good as when Iori does it, but I think you look really cute!” Riku exclaimed as soon as he was done, admiring his handiwork while he did so. Kinako turned around and smiled brightly. “Thank you, papa!” She said as she then threw her arms around Riku’s neck in a tight embrace. 

Riku chuckled and returned the hug. “Oh, there you are! Riku! Kinako! Come here for a second!” Someone called out to them. Riku turned his head around, without letting go of Kinako, and could see that it was Madame Izumi. Riku let go of Kinako and stood up, then he held out his hand, which Kinako grabbed before they both started walking over to the older woman. 

“I’m so glad I finally found you!” Madame Izumi exclaimed, sounding relieved, as they walked over to her. “Do you need help with anything?” Riku asked earnestly. Madame Izumi smiled apologetically at him. “Well, there’s still a few things that need to be done, and people are starting to arrive, I can see carriages in the distance! Do you think that you could take care of greeting everyone who arrives? Normally, I’d do that, but I really need to go finish things up in the kitchen! Also, Iori still hasn’t returned yet! Just what is that boy doing? Today of all days!” She said. 

“Wasn’t he going to take care of an urgent errand?” He asked suspiciously. “Well yes, or so I’ve been told. I thought all errands were already taken care of, and so Mitsuki came up to us this morning and told us there was a final one that Iori had to take care of! He wouldn’t even tell me what it was about!” She exclaimed. Riku frowned at that, what was so secret that Iori hadn’t even told his mother about? 

“Anyway, will you go greet the guests?” Madame Izumi then asked, successfully pulling him out of his thoughts. “Ah, yes, of course! Me and Kinako will go take care of it!” Riku said, a bright smile on his face. “Oh, thank you so much sweetie! You’re a life saver!” Madame Izumi said as she patted Riku’s cheek and turned around to walk back to the house. As she did, Riku could hear her talking to herself. “I swear, preparing this has been more stressful than the actual wedding! How is that even possible?” She said, which made Riku smile to himself. 

Riku then walked over to the gate in order to wait for the guests to arrive. He didn’t have to wait long, just about five minutes after he got there the first carriage arrived. Riku greeted the people, whom all seemed to be distant friends of the Izumi family. Soon however, he saw some familiar faces. “Momo-san! Yuki-san! Banri-san! You actually made it!” He exclaimed happily as the three men exited their carriage. 

“Riku!” Momo exclaimed as he walked over and pulled Riku into a hug that almost knocked the air out of his lungs. “It’s so good to see you again!” He then said. “You too!” Riku replied. After that he made sure to properly greet Yuki and Banri too. 

“I heard the news, you’re going on a second tour with Yamato-san and the others in a few months? Congratulations!” Riku exclaimed. “Why, thank you! The first one was such a success that we couldn’t just turn this one down.” Banri answered. “Though this is the last one! After that, we really are retiring!” Momo exclaimed. “You said that about the last tour too.” Yuki then pointed out, which made Riku and Banri chuckle, while Momo pouted instead. 

Banri then knelt down and smiled at Kinako, who had been hiding behind Riku’s legs ever since Riku started greeting people, still feeling really shy around people she had never met before. “Is this that girl, Kinako, that we’ve heard so much about? Hello, my name is Ogami Banri, it’s very nice to meet you.” He said gently. Riku patted Kinako’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. 

The little girl then reached her hand out and shook Banri’s. “Hello, I’m Kinako. It’s nice to meet you too.” She said quietly while looking at the ground. “Aww, she’s adorable!” Momo exclaimed happily, which made Kinako blush. “Well, we should maybe head inside now. It’s this way, right?” Yuki said, pointing towards the mansion. Riku smiled and nodded. 

“Okay, talk to you later!” Momo then exclaimed as the three men headed off towards the mansion. 

After that, more and more people kept coming. Riku greeted Yamato, then Nagi, then Gaku and Ryuunosuke, and then Sougo and Tamaki. Of course, there had also been a lot of other people, friends and family, most of them connected to the Izumi family. Then, Riku’s face lit up as he saw the familiar figure of his brother approaching him. “Tenn-nii!” He called out happily. 

Tenn smiled and waved, then the twins pulled each other in for a hug. “I missed you so much! How was the trip here?” Riku asked. “It was good, and I missed you too.” Tenn said, smiling gently and sincerely at Riku. Then, he bent down and picked Kinako up in his arms. “And hello to you too!” He said happily. Much to everyone’s surprise, Tenn and Kinako got along as if they were best friends. Most people, even Riku, would say that Tenn didn’t seem like the kind of person who was good with kids, but it seems having taken care of a sickly brother all his life might have given him an affinity for children. 

Kinako laughed and wrapped her arms around Tenn’s neck. Tenn then turned to Riku, a serious expression on his face. “They came.” He just said. Those simple words meant a lot to Riku, who tensed up and looked slightly worried. After all, those words could only refer to Riku and Tenn’s parents. 

Riku hadn’t heard a single word from them for a year now, the last time they spoke was when they left after Iori and Riku’s wedding, after all. Riku had sent letters, but they had never replied. He hadn’t even been sure if they would show up at today’s celebration. But, lo and behold, here they were. “Could you look after Kinako for a bit? I think I better try and talk to them by myself.” Riku asked Tenn, who nodded in reply while smiling sympathetically at his brother. 

“Come on Kinako! Let’s go see if there’s anything good to eat, yeah?” He said as he started walking away from Riku. Kinako looked over at Riku for a second, a slight worry in her gaze, but she quickly turned back to look at Tenn. “Of course there will be! My family are all great cooks!” She exclaimed proudly. Riku smiled as he heard Kinako referring to the Izumis as 'her family'. 

Riku then turned around and took a deep breath. He was extremely nervous about seeing his parents again for the first time in so long. They may not be very good parents, but they were still the people who had raised him, taken care of him all his life, and a part of Riku still loved them despite all they had put him through. 

Mister and Madame Nanase slowly walked up to their youngest son, cold expressions adorning their faces. Riku gulped and straightened his back even more, if that was even possible. “Riku.” His mother greeted him. All his father did was give Riku a small nod. 

Riku smiled up at his parents. “Dad, mom, it’s good to see you again. I’ve missed you.” He said, a forced smile on his face. It wasn’t necessarily lying, he had kind of missed his parents, but he had also dreaded seeing them again. It was a strange mix, to say the least. 

Riku’s dad scoffed. “You don’t need to pretend, we know very well how you feel. We’re just here out of courtesy, we’ll be gone again before you know it.” He said coldly before walking off. “But-” Riku tried calling out to his father, but he was already so far away that if Riku called him over now, he would undoubtedly cause a scene. 

Riku looked down on the ground, disappointment clearly showing on his face. His mother sighed and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Listen, Riku…” She started. Riku looked up at his mother questioningly. “You’ve done a good job. This connection with the Izumi family is better than we thought it would be, and you’re really doing a great job keeping it up on this side, so thank you. I know that what we did wasn’t fair to you, and I don’t know how much my words will mean to you, but I truly am happy that you managed to find some form of happiness here. A happiness we failed to give to you.” She said with a sad smile. 

Riku looked taken aback, but soon collected himself. He nodded and gave his mother a smile, as brightly as he could manage. She then pulled Riku in for a hug, though Riku couldn’t be sure if she did it because she actually cared or in order to keep up appearances. Nevertheless, he returned the hug. He still hadn’t forgiven his parents, he probably never would, not fully, but a part of him was glad that they were still there. 

Soon, all of the guests had arrived, however, one very important person had yet to return. Riku was stood fidgeting by the gate, looking out over the horizon every other minute to see if he could spot Iori. Tsumugi walked up to him and handed him something to drink. “Has Iori-san not returned yet?” She asked sympathetically. Riku shook his head as he graciously accepted the drink from his friend. 

Tsumugi smiled gently at him. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon. It’s a big day today, after all. He wouldn’t miss it.” She said encouragingly. Riku smiled and nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He said, a bittersweet smile on his own lips. “Tsumugi! Could you go help in the backyard?” They heard Madame Izumi call out. Tsumugi nodded before dashing off, leaving Riku alone with his mother-in-law. 

“Riku, dear, why are you still standing here by yourself? Come join the rest of us.” She suggested kindly. “Well, I’d love that. It’s just, Iori hasn’t…” He started but trailed off towards the end. “Ugh, that boy is hopeless! Today is a day of celebration, and yet he’s making you feel sad and worried! I’ll give him a piece of my mind once he returns.” Madame Izumi said stubbornly. 

Riku chuckled before turning serious. “I just hope nothing happened to him.” He said. “Oh, I’m certain he’s perfectly fine.” She said, looking off in the distance. “But he’s usually never late for anything! What if he was attacked? Or got in an accident? Or-” Riku started but was interrupted by Iori’s mother. “Oh no, he’s totally fine! There really is no need for you to worry.” She said calmly. 

Riku frowned. Her son had been gone for hours on a small errand, why wasn’t she more worried? “Why don’t you seem worried at all?” He asked her. Madame Izumi just pointed down the road. “Because I can see him right over there!” She said. 

Riku turned around so fast he almost got a whiplash, and just as Madame Izumi had said, Iori finally appeared down the road. Riku felt immense relief and happiness wash over him the moment he saw Iori, but they were soon replaced with irritation at how late he was. Riku turned back around to face Madame Izumi. “Would you mind if I went and talked to him for a little bit? Or do we need to get back to the party?” He asked. 

Madame Izumi smiled understandingly. “It’s okay, take all the time you need.” She answered. Riku smiled and nodded before he turned and started walking towards Iori. “Oh!” Madame Izumi then exclaimed, making him stop in his tracks and turn around to face her again. “But make sure you don’t need more than thirty minutes! I’m afraid the guests will get bored otherwise!” She told him. Riku laughed but agreed. 

Riku then walked up to Iori but stopped when they were still about one meter apart. Iori looked at him questioningly. “You’re late.” Was all Riku said. Now, Iori actually looked slightly guilty. “I know, I’m really sorry. But I’m here now.” He said while closing the last distance between them and enveloping Riku in a hug. Riku, who was still a bit upset by Iori’s absence that day, didn’t return the hug, instead he just pouted and stared at him as he pulled away. 

Iori let his hands rest on Riku’s hips as he leaned his face forward so that his and Riku’s foreheads were leaning against each other. “Will you forgive me?” He asked quietly. Riku looked like he was actually considering it for a few seconds before he reached up and grabbed ahold of the lapels of Iori’s jacket and smiled at the raven-haired man. “Only if you give me a kiss and promise to tell me why you’ve been gone all day.” He said. 

Iori smiled brightly at that. “Of course.” He answered before leaning in closer. Pressing a light kiss on Riku’s lips. One kiss then turned into many, and soon Riku had his arms wrapped securely around Iori’s neck as they were basically making out right then and there, not caring that anyone could walk over and see them anytime. 

Riku was the one to pull away first, panting hard as he did. Though, to be fair, Iori wasn’t really in a better state than he was. Once he had managed to calm down, Riku looked at Iori expectantly. “Now, where have you been all day?” He asked impatiently. 

Iori cleared his throat and started fixing his hair, which had gotten a bit tousled from his and Riku’s previous activity. “I went to Deneer in the south.” He answered simply. Riku pouted. “And why did you have to go all the way to Deneer? Today of all days? Couldn’t it have waited.” He asked. 

“Close your eyes.” Was all Iori answered with. Riku looked at him in disbelief. “What? Iori, I still want to know why you’ve been gone all day! You can’t just change the subject!” He complained, though he wasn’t really angry with him. Iori just smiled at him. “And I will tell you! Just trust me and close your eyes.” He insisted. 

Riku sighed but complied anyway, shutting his eyes close. “This was supposed to arrive earlier, but there had been some error along the way, so it was accidentally sent to Deneer instead of here.” Iori started explaining. “What was? I can’t see, remember?” Riku said, waving a hand in front of his closed eyes to prove it. 

Iori chuckled. “I know, that’s the point. I got you something, as a gift. That’s what should have arrived earlier, but it didn’t. I wanted to give it to you today, and it wouldn’t be here until in a few days if we’d waited for it to come with the mail, so I rode down to Deneer myself to pick it up.” Iori finished explaining. 

Riku didn’t really know what to say. Iori had really gone to all that effort, only to make sure Riku would get his gift today? At first, Riku felt really happy, but then he was taken over by guilt. “Oh my god, I totally forgot! There was so much going on, I didn’t have time to get you anything!” He exclaimed. 

“That’s fine, my gift is sort of for the both of us anyway.” Iori said, not sounding the least bit disappointed. In fact, the tone in his voice was kind of fond? “Hold out your left hand.” Iori commanded next. Riku did as Iori said and held his left hand out, his palm up as if he was expecting Iori to put something in there. He still felt a bit guilty, but he knew Iori really didn’t mind at all, so he tried to let it go for now. 

Riku got really confused when he felt Iori turn his hand around so that his palm was facing the ground instead and then proceeded to pull the wedding ring off his finger, only to put it back on a few seconds later. “Iori, what are you doing?” Riku asked. “Okay, you can look now.” Iori simply answered as he smiled. 

Riku slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his hand. However, he noticed that the ring that currently adorned his finger wasn’t his wedding ring. His wedding ring was in gold, with a nice pattern and some jewels adorning it. This one was much simpler, a thin, silver ring which was made of a few smaller strands that all came together to create a braid-like pattern. Riku looked at it in awe. It was beautiful. 

Riku looked up at Iori to comment on it but saw that Iori also had replaced his wedding ring with one identical to the one Riku was wearing. “What is this?” Riku asked with a smile on his face. Iori blushed and looked away to the side. “Well, we never really got the chance to get any engagement rings, so I thought I’d get us some.” He said. 

Riku smiled brighter at that. “But we’re already married, do we really need engagement rings too?” He asked. Iori turned back to look him in the eyes, he then grabbed Riku’s left hand and turned it around, palm up, and placed Riku’s wedding ring in it. “I know you don’t really like yours, you think it’s too much with all the jewels. So, I also thought I’d get you a replacement, something more fitting.” He said. 

Riku looked at Iori, tears welling up in his eyes and a big smile on his face. “That’s so sweet of you.” Riku started. “I love it, thank you.” He then said, wrapping his arms around the other’s waist and burying his face in his chest. Iori laughed and wrapped his own arms around Riku’s torso. “I’m glad you like it.” He said. 

Riku pulled back and allowed Iori to dry his tears, Riku really liked when he did that, there was something so intimate about the gesture that made his heart flutter, no matter what sort of mood he was in. “Riku.” Iori then said, making Riku look directly at him. “Happy anniversary.” He finished. Then he leaned down and placed a small peck at the corner of Riku’s lips. 

“I love you so much.” Iori then said without pulling away. Riku smiled, big and toothy, which was a bit awkward since they were also kind of kissing. “I love you too! Happy one-year anniversary!” Riku answered before connecting their lips again. 

They soon pulled apart, both smiling brightly and laughing with each other. “We should probably head back to the party, or your mother might skin us.” Riku pointed out. Iori laughed and agreed. The two held hands as they walked back towards the mansion and all the other people who were waiting for them. 

They had met a year ago and had practically been joined together in a very intimate relationship right from the start. Neither of them had planned on getting married then, and neither had they planned on falling in love. But as they now walked hand in hand, they couldn’t be happier about what had happened at that time. They vowed to stay together for the rest of their lives, and they would both do everything in their power to uphold those vows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it. It's finished, there's nothing more to add to this (part of the) story. It feels kind of sad that it's really over, I'll miss updating on Wednesdays and Saturdays, it really became a part of my weekly routine. But for the most part I just feel happy, proud and excited that I actually made this! Thank you, to every single one of you who have read this story, and a bigger thank you to those of you who shoved your support in any way, whether it be leaving a kudo, a comment, a bookmark, writing to me, sharing this story or making fanart! I really, truly appreciate all of it from the bottom of my heart! <3  
> I have also complied a list here of all the fanarts I've recieved while creating this fanfic, and I will add more if I get sent any new ones, so that you can easily find all of them. If you haven't checked them out already, please do so and make sure to give the artists your love, because they all made a fantastic work and I really love all of them! Here's the list:  
> https://michan1907.tumblr.com/post/182087333923/so-i-actually-tried-drawing-riku-as-girl-but-i  
> https://twitter.com/michan1907/status/1087009834010959873  
> https://twitter.com/EFagerhag/status/1099374879063883777  
> https://twitter.com/EFagerhag/status/1100784520134037505  
> https://twitter.com/EFagerhag/status/1109531323801182208  
> https://twitter.com/michan1907/status/1109515339929272321  
> https://twitter.com/EFagerhag/status/1115972530244861953  
> https://twitter.com/QualiaNoEtrange/status/1122259796885934080  
> https://twitter.com/redwavyorca/status/1126723152304689152  
> https://twitter.com/pris0nmike_/status/1127785875079868417
> 
> Also, for those of you who are wondering, I will try to finish my other fanfic, "Our Life Together", pretty soon. I'd like to have it out by the end of next week, but I won't make any promises. I also have another fanfic planned, but I probably won't start posting that for a while yet as it's still a work in progress. But that's something that you can look forward to if you have enjoyed my previous works! ^^  
> That was all I had to say this time. Thank you all again, and I hope you have a great day/evening! <3<3<3


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